Many conspiracies develop to prevent bad news from reaching the public. This particular purported conspiracy theory would do the opposite. It would be a conspiracy to keep good news from the committee and association members. Those seeking to expose this grand conspiracy point to comments attributed to the committee chairman, Ken Wolf.

As I quoted from the July 2021 committee meeting minutes: "Water testing status. Ken (Wolf) had a meeting with John Viola and was told that OPA can’t disclose the results to our committee. Marty believes this kind of information is specifically covered by Title 11-B and should be available."

Seems the meeting minutes hold a "Paul Harvey" item - The Rest of the Story.

I spoke with Ken Wolf today. He does not believe the minutes adequately describe his conversation with Viola, nor what he thought of the situation at the time. Wolf said the original high number for some Human DNA test number was seen by everyone involved, including Kathy Phillips of Assateague Coastal Trust, as an aberration. He did not feel the community should be alarmed and believes a measured response by the General Manager was appropriate. Wolf said the General Manager was actually at the committee meeting when asked about those initial test results. Follow-up testing, as we eventually discover, happened quickly in December and indicated no major health-related problems. However, it appears no one saw those results until perhaps August of this year.

Another source says when the initial test results came in they were received by Tom Janasek who called in to the Administration Building from on the road and let some board members and GM know the results. Janasek apparently said "we don't want this getting out" (to paraphrase) and a second test, mentioned above, was authorized. Again, Wolf believes this was an appropriate position as there was no point in creating panic over a test result everyone believed to be an aberration.

The second test, according to this source, was done in December of 2020 and apparently sent to Janasek. It was not until August or September that Janasek brought the report to the Administration Building and left it with the executive secretary while saying, "We can't let this get out to the public." Again, perhaps Janasek was justified in holding that opinion because he did not then understand the meaning of the test number results.

The big issue for the conspiracy theory believers is the committee did not receive the follow-up test and there was some reason for the board or the GM to hide what turned out to be good news. If Janasek did not bring the second test results to OPA until August or September, that would explain the timeline delay, but in no way suggest there was a conspiracy afoot to hide any good news from the committee.

Ken Wolf, said, "At no time did I ever believe there was any conspiracy by the General Manager or the Board of Directors to withhold any test results for political purposes."

Wolf also mentioned he had asked then board liaison Tom Janasek to contact the Assateague Coastal Trust and request an interpretation of what the test numbers actually meant. There is no record of the committee or OPA receiving that information.

I never met or spoke with Ken Wolf prior to today. After our discussion, my observation is he is exactly the sort of thoughtful, involved person we need on OPA committees.

If there is any conspiracy happening relative to all this, it is more likely a conspiracy by a few to try and make the General Manager and/or the Board of Directors look bad for political purposes, especially given the timing. If so, they have failed in that attempt.