It’s 3 a.m. July 17. Four jets thunder out of Knox County Regional Airport in Owls Head in violation of the curfew. One of the many people awakened calls the official airport noise hotline. When her complaint is ignored, as usual (contrary to the airport’s stated policy on noise complaints), she calls the airport manager directly. He gives her the phone number of the violator, a company with a long history of curfew infringements. After speaking with them, she receives an expensive flower arrangement.

What is wrong with this picture?

The Knox County commissioners, who own and operate the airport, continue to abdicate responsibility for noise problems. Here’s what they could, but don’t do:

. publish the names of curfew violators in local media to encourage compliance;

. charge landing fees which cost more during curfew hours

. build noise buffers with earthen beams and trees in select locations;

. stop initiating infrastructure improvements which increase aircraft traffic (such as the apron expansion plan currently under review);

. undertake a noise study to quantify the problem and explore concrete solutions.

Instead, the county continues to waste taxpayer dollars (the legal fees alone are staggering) to foist on the community a massive 8.5-acre aircraft parking apron expansion whose scale is utterly unjustified. This project will:

. double the paved aircraft parking area;

. increase large jet tiedowns from zero to two;

. increase small jet tiedowns from zero to nine;

. increase small aircraft tiedowns from 58 to 100.

All to alleviate overflow parking on several peak summer weekends and to correct a taxiway width safety problem which could be solved by paving a mere half an acre.

The county has used the Federal Aviation Administration as a scapegoat to mask its desires to expand. In truth, all airport projects are initiated by the county at its sole discretion. The county has also “cried wolf” repeatedly by trumping up safety issues to justify the expansion. During the Board of Environmental Protection hearings earlier this year, I successfully debunked the alleged safety issues to the extent that the county’s lawyer completely abandoned safety as an argument.

The BEP harshly criticized the county. One BEP member angrily reminded the county the airport is “a public facility, not a private enclave,” and declared the “public has been mistreated by the county.”

Many of my assertions about problems at the airport were validated during the BEP process, including that the county:

. misrepresented water-quality test results;

. presented false date under oath about the number and significance of aircraft based at the airport;

. failed to implement its EPA-required Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan and its DEP-required Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plan;

. misrepresented the amount and toxicity of deicers used at the airport;

. misrepresented safety issues.

One BEP member spoke against granting the permit saying, “we should not reward these kinds of presentations.” Another BEP member commented that “the county needed a wakeup call.”

But have they really woken up? At a recent meeting one commissioner dismissed citizens with noise concerns as “whiners.” The county’s pattern of dismissal, placation, intimidation and belittlement continues. Is it too much to ask our elected representatives to respect and represent their constituents?

The county denies allegations of cronyism and operating in smoke-filled back rooms, yet the visible opponents of expansion outnumber the supporters by a huge margin. What is the source of the mysterious mandate to expand if not from a privileged minority?

A small, well-run airport is a credit to our community. Unfortunately, it’s no longer what we have, and things will get much worse unless the county changes its tune. The county should reduce the scale of the apron project and incorporate the noise-abatement features the community wants.

Until then, I and others will continue to fight for a reasonably sized apron, the environmental controls needed to protect the river, groundwater and air, shielding for the blinding ILS strobe lights, curfews with teeth to the extent allowed by law so people can get a good night’s rest, noise-abatement features, and limits on airport infrastructure expansion. If the county wants to continue to spend our tax dollars fighting us, they will have to live with the consequences of their choice.

Lee Schneller lives in South Thomaston.