BY-MO 2004 Problem 8

Tom Sawyer must whitewash a circular fence consisting of $N$ planks. He whitewashes the fence going clockwise and following the rule: He whitewashes the first plank, skips two planks, whitewashes one, skips three, and so on. Some planks may be whitewashed several times. Tom believes that all planks will be whitewashed sooner or later, but aunt Polly is sure that some planks will remain unwhitewashed forever. Prove that Tom is right if $N$ is a power of two, otherwise aunt Polly is right.