[TheNoonans]

Thank you all for your continued support, and thank you RLW for your e-card.

Hi PG,

There won't be any impact to the regional airports as far as the amount of funding available if/when the FAA rescinds the NHDOTs Block Grant State federal funding status. The same federal funding monies will be available to "compliant" airports, the only difference will be that the airport managers will send their requests to the FAA like the other 43 states or so that are not Block Grant states, in lieu of sending it to the NHDOT.

The only airport that may suffer funding loss is LCI. I have made no attempt to hide the fact that I am vigorously petitioning the FAA to cease funding to this non-compliant airport unless the airport is both formally sanctioned for it's discriminatory actions and also brought back into compliance. If I am successful, then yes, LCI risks losing its future federal funding. If that occurs though, it will be the "fault" of only one person, the Chairman of the Laconia Airport Authority during the 2008-2009 term years.

Why? The Chairman is responsible for guiding the authority and ensuring it's actions are compliant with the federal funding grant assurances. "Chairman-ship" is not just a title, it is an official position that comes with responsibilities. And in our case, those responsibilities included knowing what the board was authorized to do what they did not have the authority to do. That the Chairman did not know these things does not preclude him or his board from following the rules.

If the airport loses its funding, then so be it, if that is to happen, then it will have been proven to the FAA in Washington DC that the airport breached its contract with the FAA and if that is the case, then they deserve to lose the funding.

It wont affect us though, our "little dirt road business" can sustain itself just fine if the runway is turned back into a grass strip........

If the runway turns back into a grass strip, then the John Marriotts of the world may stop showing up, but our dirt road business will bring jobs and $1,000,000+ dollars per anum into the community in economic stimulus, considerably more money going into the community from our business then the private jet crowd. The only person(s) that actually benefit from the jets is the person selling them the fuel.....So if your not selling them the fuel, these "jet setters" economic impact to your inns, and restaurants is truly nominal compared to what economic stimulus we will bring you in return.

On a side note however, I actually spoke to one of John Marriott's "handlers" for lack of a better term, and guess who has already stopped flying into LCI? Yup, Mr. Marriott. He stopped flying in and there isn't even skydiving on the field...........ironic, huh?

Same thing with the NASCAR pilots, Earnhart owned "Champion Air" is now flying most of the drivers that lease their jets into Manchester, not Laconia.

But that's not what the LAA wants you to know. They want you to think that all the drivers are still flying in, so that when we show up and start operating, they can say "SEE!!! No more NASCAR drivers flying in!"

Like I said, for those that oppose us, all they have is smoke and mirrors.....

So, here we are approaching 2012, 4 years into the process. Mary and I are as invigorated as ever to see this through. We have a national media outlet standing by, waiting for the final results to come it.

The irony in all this is that if the LAA had just done their jobs in 2008, we'd be peacefully and quietly integrated into the airport and everyone would be content and happy. Instead, they are about to be put on a national stage and a spot light will be cast on every one of their actions.

Thanks to this thread and the equally vigorous vocal minority, this has become a truly compelling story and with all the facts and truths surrounding this process.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

PS For anyone showing up to this thread late that doesn't have the energy to go over all the past posts, I'll offer this:

Mary and I are not calling the recent decision of the LAA to deny us "discriminatory". Despite my repeated efforts to effectively communicate that concept to the NHDOT, they seem muddled by that point. We, Tom and Mary, agree that the airport board has the right to render any decision they wanted AFTER the FAA issued those erroneous reports. (The FAA then has a right to agree or disagree and force compliance if they disagree).

What this is about, is all the discriminatory actions and votes that the LAA cconducted in 2008 and 2009 BEFORE the FAA issued an erroneous ruling, that we brought to the NHDOT and were subsequently ignored by the NHDOT.

That is all our NH Block Grant status rescinding request and the funding forfeiture request for LCI is about.

The FAA will eventually reverse the decision of the LAA and enforce the rules. The LAA's decision after the local FAA's erronous reporting is off our radar, doesn't bother us at all.

We are now only seeking justice for being discriminated against throughout the process that led up to that decision. We gave the LAA a copy of the FAA rules of process for this proposal in October 2008 and they ignored them, threw them out the window. Today they are about to be called upon to answer for that choice. That is all this is about.