Prior disturbing public comments from County officials and rumors about their apparent closed-door decision to proceed with active recreational development at the property based on their own polling system led to compiling the Preliminary Report a few days prior to the October public meeting held in Ewing, the third of its kind that has been held. The small crowd, about a third of whom were members of Washington Crossing Audubon Society (WCAS), spoke on behalf of preserving the property. Herb Lord, a WCAS Board member and active participant in the Survey, presented copies of the preliminary report to each of the Steering Committee members in attendance. An additional comment by one County official made it clear that these public meetings were simply a facade to make it appear that the County was listening to their constituents, or else a bad case of public relations on behalf of the County's spokesman. He told the "conservationists" in the crowd that their voice was over-represented at these meetings only because the other people were "too busy" to attend the meetings. If that was not a slap in the face to the dedicated members who spend countless hours, days and weeks each year for the conservation and preservation of our open space, then nothing is.