Warren Knight, owner of Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook, was arrested Saturday for trespassing next to Pike Industries property.
Knight, 53, a vocal opponent of the consent agreement between Pike and the city regarding blasting at Pike’s Spring Street quarry operations, said he was only trying to watch the blasting take place and not trying to disrupt quarry activities.
“I believed it was within my rights to be there to observe the blast,” Knight said Monday.
Pike was set to blast at the quarry on Friday, Sept. 27. Knight said he was watching for the blasting from the Central Maine Power property that is adjacent to both his farm and the quarry. No blasting took place.
According to Westbrook Police Capt. Tom Roth, Pike Industries called police on Friday about Knight, but the area where Knight was standing made it difficult for the officers to determine whose property he was on.
Roth said an attorney for Central Maine Power contacted police on Friday evening and sent a surveyor to the wooded area where Knight was standing the following day to verify the property belonged to Central Maine Power.
On Saturday, Knight said he was back out on the property at 8 a.m. for the rescheduled blast. Police were able to determine Knight was on CMP property and they arrested him for criminal trespassing, said Roth.
“Officers went out there and told him [Knight] to leave the property. He refused to and he was arrested. He was cooperative,” Roth said.
Pike was able to blast at the quarry once Knight was removed from the property, said City Administrator Jerre Bryant. Quarry operations are also planned for Oct. 4.
After spending a few hours at the Cumberland County Jail, Knight posted the $60 bail and was released. Knight said his bail conditions also state he cannot set foot on Central Maine Power property, although he said he does not know what he will do when Pike is set to blast again.
Smiling Hill Farm and Pike have been at odds over quarry operations since the site became operational again in 2008. At that time, the farm, Idexx Laboratories and Artel, all abutters to the site, banned together to try and stop blasting at the quarry. Idexx reached an agreement that gave it more than a 100-foot vegetative buffer between the two properties. Smiling Hill Farm received a 20-foot vegetative buffer between its open land and the quarry.
“It’s not fair, it’s not right,” Knight said. “What [being given a smaller buffer] is saying is open space and agriculture do not deserve the same protection as what a business does, and we’re not going to accept that. It’s something worth fighting for.”
Roth said there are concerns from Central Maine Power about having people on its County Road property when Pike is scheduled to blast, but police are ready to respond if anyone is reported in the area.
Knight is scheduled to appear in Portland District Court on Nov. 19.
No one from Pike Industries was available to comment late Monday.
Warren KnightSend questions/comments to the editors.
