WALL TOWNSHIP – A few weeks ago, the Monmouth County Commissioners sent out a release about the hiring of a consultant “to perform a comprehensive business feasibility analysis of the Monmouth Executive Airport.”

This may have seemed like an arcane bit of government business.

Not really.

The owner of the airport, Wall Herald Corporation and its president, Alan Antaki, seemed convinced something else is afoot – like a plan by the county to take the airport through eminent domain, or condemnation.

And like many disputes, this one is headed to court.

Wall Herald last week filed a federal suit against various Monmouth County offices, including the sheriff, the park rangers and the county itself.

The suit does not directly revolve around any plans of the county to condemn the airport.

It is actually about something more basic to democracy – the right of people to hand out leaflets in public.

First some background.

According to the suit, Wall Herald Corporation paid off more than $2.5 million in back property taxes accumulated and owed by the former airport owner to Wall Township after buying the airport in 2013. It also constructed a safety perimeter around the airport, repaired non-functioning runway lights, financed the design of new instrument approaches and engaged in considerable runway and taxiway repairs, according to the suit.

The suit also says that the airport is one of the township’s largest taxpayers to the tune of almost $900,000 annually.

Now we move to July 28 of this year, a time when the county’s annual fair was ongoing.

Miffed at the prospect of the county possibly condemning the airport, Wall Herald sent three employees to the fair to distribute literature.

By any measure, the handout was not outrageously inflammatory.

“Stop the Monmouth County Commissioners from spending hundreds of millions of your tax dollars to seize and take over the privately-owned, public-use Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall Township,” is how it began.

It then asked why the county wants an airport and how much the plan would ultimately cost taxpayers.

Nonetheless, the suit contends that those distributing the leaflets quickly ran into trouble.

It says that both park rangers and sheriff’s officers interfered with the distribution by relocating the employees to an area removed from the fairgrounds and told them they could only give leaflets to those who specifically requested them.

The suit, not surprisingly, asserts that the airport owner had the right to distribute leaflets wherever it wanted on public property.

As stated, the litigation is a free speech matter.

The larger issue over the airport’s future remains.

Getting back to the county’s statement a few weeks ago, Thomas Arnone, the commission director said:

“Representatives from the county have heard disturbing reports from a variety of sources about the condition of the airport and its supporting facilities. I recently toured the airport and came away with my own, serious concerns, both about safety at the airport and its financial viability. We are hiring Merchant Aviation to determine if the airport could be better run and maintained under county ownership.”

But he added:

“I want to be crystal clear; no decisions have been made related to the county’s disposition towards the airport. This is another step in the process of collecting information and assessing our options as it relates to an important and valuable county asset. That said, whatever decision we make will be after a thorough and deliberative process, and with the best interests of Monmouth County residents and the airport’s future in mind.”

Fine and good, but with airport employees allegedly being harassed by the county while leafletting, it’s probably time to buckle up.