The Hawthorne effect, first discovered early in the twentieth century, is when a group of people change their behavior solely because they are being observed. The effect was first demonstrated in an unrelated experiment testing workers' productivity when exposed to bright and dim lights in a factory. While the light levels didn't make much of a difference, the fact that the workers were being observed resulted in a measurable and predictable increase in productivity. Quantum physics has its own, less intuitive, version of this phenomenon. Called the Observer Effect, it simply states that the act of observing a sub-atomic event (or any physical phenomenon, for that matter) affects the event, and in fact can change it significantly. In both the natural and sociological words, there is no such thing as a passive audience.

It seems the Town of Wawarsing Planning Board has taken these laws to heart, if their recent actions are any indication. In a hastily organized special meeting on June 18 to consider an equally hasty and dubious application put before them, the planning board bypassed legally binding rules for notifying the public and announced the meeting in such a way that virtually guaranteed no one would know about it. It was only by coincidence that this newspaper discovered the meeting, barely 45 minutes before it was to begin.

While the rather weak excuse of a "mix-up" could be valid, the fact that the town's official paper of record was not notified when there was plenty of time to do so, and that the notice of the meeting was not posted in the town clerk's office as legally required, appears to indicate otherwise. It seems the planning board preferred this particular meeting to occur unobserved by the public or the media. And in light of what transpired at the meeting itself, that is completely understandable, as the actions the board displayed once again raise questions as to their competence and motivations.

Whether or not the board purposely tried to avoid public scrutiny of this meeting may never be known, but Martin Lonstein, the planning board chairman, seemed to take particular pleasure in removing the only reporter at the meeting from the room once it began. When reminded that government acting in secrecy is reserved for only extraordinary circumstances in a democracy, the chairman was forced to motion to enter the meeting into a closed session to exercise attorney-client privilege, which the compliant board passed without comment. Aglow with his victory, the chairman mockingly waved goodbye to the reporter.

This childish behavior has no place in our government and reflects poorly on the town, but it does demonstrate one thing. The Observer Effect is alive and well in Wawarsing; and for good or ill, only time will tell.