Poisoned trees gave a wealthy couple in Maine a killer ocean view. Residents wonder, at what cost?
Poisoned trees gave a wealthy couple in Maine a killer ocean view. Residents wonder, at what cost?
Poisoned trees gave a wealthy couple in Maine a killer ocean view. Residents wonder, at what cost?
Wealth and hubris fuel the tale of a politically connected Missouri couple who allegedly poisoned their neighbor’s trees to secure their million-dollar view of Camden Harbor. The incident that was unearthed by the victim herself — the philanthropic wife of L.L. Bean’s late president — has united local residents in outrage.
To make matters worse, the herbicide used to poison the trees leached into a neighboring park and the town’s only public seaside beach. The state attorney general is now investigating.
“Anybody dumb enough to poison trees right next to the ocean should be prosecuted, as far as I’m concerned,” said Paul Hodgson, echoing the view of many exasperated residents in Camden, a community of 5,000 nestled at the foot of mountains that sweep upward from the Atlantic Ocean and overlook a harbor filled with lobster boats, yachts and schooners.
Amelia Bond, former CEO of the St. Louis Foundation, which oversees charitable funds with more than $500 million in assets, brought the herbicide from Missouri in 2021 and applied it near oak trees on the waterfront property of Lisa Gorman, wife of the late Leon Gorman, L.L. Bean’s president and grandson of L.L. himself, according to a pair of consent agreements with the town and the state pesticide board.
Bond’s husband, Arthur Bond III, is an architect and the nephew of former U.S. Sen. Kit Bond. Their summer home, owned by a trust, is situated directly behind Gorman’s home, farther up the hill.
Poisoned someone else's trees, their property, and the beach and it was just for their summer home. :smh:
Throw the book at them.
An open and shut case as far as I can tell. You don't have the right to destroy other people's property.
Take that house so they never see that view again.
The perps have a whole bunch of money, tho'.
What does the penalty look like and how will this return the trees to the community?
No they don't. But they probably have the
rightwealth to get out of it with a fine that's probably less than whatever interest is generated by their smallest savings accountIt's extremely unlikely that this can be pinned on "them". People this rich never do their own dirty work and give orders in ways that are deniable. Only exceptions are control freaks and idiots.
IANAL but I didn't think you can hire someone to commit a crime for you without exposing yourself to a lot of liability. People are certainly prosecuted for hiring someone else to commit murder.
Didn't read the article, did you?