Wealthy Maine couple accused of killing trees to secure ocean view, poisoning community’s sole public beach in the process

Two Maine millionaires are bickering in court over accusations that one poisoned the other’s trees to score the ultimate ocean view — and that in doing so, a lethal herbicide leached into their small community’s only public beach.

Lisa Gorman, wife of the late LL Bean president Leon Gorman, claims that her neighbor applied herbicide to her oak trees without consent in 2021, The Associated Press reported.

Neighbor Amelia Bond, former CEO of St. Louis Foundation, then offered to split the cost to remove the dying trees from the front of the Camden home in 2022, according to legal documents reviewed by the AP.

This gave Bond an unobstructed view of Penobscot Bay, an idyllic harbor filled with lobster boats, yachts and schooners.

The destruction didn’t stop at the Gorman property. Herbicide Tebuthiuron spread next door to the town’s only public seaside beach, prompting a legal investigation.

Residents were seen walking their dogs just 500 feet away from the soil where the herbicide, lethal to aquatic plants, was detected, according to the AP.

Bond and her husband, Arthur Bond III, an architect whose aunt is former U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, have paid thousands to the state and $1.5 million to Gorman, the town’s planning and development director told the AP.

The homes of Lisa Gorman, front, and Amelia and Arthur Bond are seen in Camden, Maine, on June 4, 2024. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

The couple, part-time transplants from Missouri, are also on the hook for further monitoring and remediation to the Laite Memorial Beach and its park, and Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has agreed to investigate the incident further.

Many residents of Camden, made up of just 5,000 residents, don’t think the fines are adequate punishment, with some calling for harsher fines or even criminal prosecution.

“Anybody dumb enough to poison trees right next to the ocean should be prosecuted, as far as I’m concerned,” Paul Hodgson, a resident, told the AP.

The maximum fine that can be imposed by the Maine Board of Pesticide Control is $4,500, which the Gormans already paid. Rep. Vicki Doudera suggested that perhaps there should be a sliding scale for wealthier perpetrators.

“It makes me so livid,” Doudera told the AP. “This situation, the minute I heard about it, I thought, ‘Wow! These people are going to get a slap on the wrist.’ That’s just not right.”

The poisoned oak trees behind Gorman’s home. Vinal Applebee via AP

An attorney for the Bond couple told the outlet their clients “continue to cooperate with the town of Camden, state of Maine and the Gormans” and “continue to take the allegations against them seriously.”

The herbicide at the center of the skirmish, Tebuthiuron, was also used by an angry Alabama football fan to avenge his team’s loss by killing oak trees at rival Auburn in 2010.

That fan, Harvey Updyke, admitted to poisoning the trees and received jail time, the AP reported.

The substance is notoriously difficult to remove or remediate. It does not break down, so it continues to kill other plants after it is applied to one tree.

Apart from removing the affected soil entirely, the only solution is to dilute the Tebuthiuron and wait two years for the substance to thin out enough to be safe for surrounding plants.

Lynn Harrington, a Camden resident, questioned whether the Bonds should show their faces around town, where they are members of the Camden Yacht Club.

Another resident, Dwight Johnson, characterized the Bonds’ offer to split the cost of tree removal after causing their death as “underhanded.”

Most acknowledged that the fabulously wealthy part-time residents “from away” — the Mainer’s expression for out-of-towners — have enough money to comfortably shoulder fines and get away with their actions.

“They just pay the fine because they have plenty of money,” Hodgson said. “That’s the town we live in.”