Hi:
I'm not sure that columns and startpage really work the way you want (to place multiple tables on the same "page" when Word opens the RTF file).
If you wanted PDF, I would recommend that you investigate ODS LAYOUT and ODS REGION -- but I do not believe that ODS RTF supports those. But, for a look at what ODS LAYOUT can do, look at Exhibit 7 in this paper:
http://www.pnwsug.org/Conference_2005/Proceedings/Papers/Pete%20Lund%20-%20PDF%20Can%20be%20Pretty%2...
Another thing to try is to use the HTMLPANEL tagset to create an HTML file using LAYOUT and REGIONS and PANELS and then to open the HTML page with Microsoft Word. However, in this scenario, you would have to use Word to insert page breaks and adjust the tables accordingly. The HTMLPANEL tagset is described here:
http://support.sas.com/rnd/base/ods/odsmarkup/htmlpanel.html
cynthia