This is a tale of the very type of government secrecy that we would like to see less of and that we are advocating for during Sunshine Week.

In late fall of 2009, the Norwood News sent an inquisitive young intern named Megan Taylor to Harris Field in Bedford Park to see how the massive reconstruction of soccer and baseball fields was coming along. She came back with a scoop. Workers there told her construction had halted following the discovery of some kind of contamination.

We immediately pressed the Parks Department for more details. What kind of contamination is it? How bad is the contamination? When was this discovered? Why wasn’t the public notified? How long will construction be delayed? Will kids be able to play baseball there in the spring?

A Parks spokesperson responded with an e-mailed statement that addressed some of our specific questions, but not all. She referred a couple of lines of inquiry to .