Concerned about the health of the Androscoggin River, scores of people from Lewiston, Auburn and all along the waterway made the trip to Augusta on Wednesday to testify in favor of L.D. 99, legislation that would force the river to meet higher environmental standards than currently required by the state – standards that already apply to other Class C rivers in Maine.

They were met by a Natural Resources Committee that at times was gracious, but at others was dismissive. Speakers, who took the day off from their normal lives, were made to wait almost three hours before they were allowed to make their case. Committee members asked a lot of questions, some that could have waited for the May 11 work session considering the overflow rooms of people waiting to testify.

After hanging in there all that time, the speakers were met by a committee that was, at times, openly hostile.

Rep. Tom Saviello, a staunch opponent of the bill and the environmental manager for a paper mill, and Rep. John Martin, another foe of the bill, were scornful of some of the people who felt strongly enough to take part in an already intense and intimidating public spectacle. At times Saviello badgered speakers, asking them questions that he knew the answers to just to make his point.

Observers saw the typical signs of patronization: The long sighs, exaggerated facial expressions and shaking heads you might expect from a middle school drama department’s production of “Twelve Angry Men.”

But it wasn’t “Twelve Angry Men.” By most accounts, there were only two.

For the lobbyists, scientists, legislators and political operators who tend to populate public hearings in Augusta, tough grilling at the hands of skeptical lawmakers should be expected, and even encouraged.

But students from Bates College felt that their concerns were dismissed, and said they were treated as if their attendance at one of the premier small colleges in the country was something that disqualified them from talking about the river. They weren’t alone.

The uninitiated amateurs who went before Natural Resources hoping to help make the Androscoggin cleaner deserved to be treated with more respect.

Instead, they got a lesson in the hardball tactics legislators will use when they are trying to thwart legislation they don’t like.