A high-profile Missouri couple has been hit with $215,000 in fines and damages after putting herbicide on two oak trees on land owned by their Maine neighbor, the widow of L.L. Bean’s former president.
Arthur Bond III, nephew of the former governor of Missouri and US Senator, Kit Bond, and his wife Amelia, president and CEO of the St Louis Community Foundation, spent their summers at their $3.5 million vacation home above Laite Beach in Camden, Maine.
Amelia Bond told Maine state investigators that she purchased in Missouri a four-pound bag of a chemical called Alligare, which in August 2021 she put on two oak trees she thought were dying.
The oak trees were on the property below hers, belonging to her neighbor.
By the following summer, the decline of the oak trees was noticed by Lisa Gorman – whose husband Leon Gorman became president of L.L. Bean in 1967 following the death of his grandfather, Leon Leonwood Bean.
Amelia Bond, who owns a holiday home in Camden, Maine, admitted using herbicide on oak trees owned by her neighbor
Lisa and Leon Gorman, the president and CEO of L.L. Bean, founded by his grandfather. Leon died in 2015, aged 80
Leon Leonwood Bean founded the Freeport, Maine-based company in 1912.
Lisa Gorman asked the landscapers Bartlett Tree Experts to look at the trees, and they took soil samples.
Their tests showed that the two oaks had been treated with herbicide, which had spread to other trees including maple, blueberry and dogwood.
The local authorities in November 2022 also tested the site and spoke to Amelia Bond, who admitted using the Alligare on the land.
It is not clear whether she knew the trees were not on her land, or why she wanted to use it on trees she believed to be dying.
Alligare is described online as ‘a selective herbicide that provides effective broadleaf weed and brush control in corn, small grains, soybeans, rangelands, pastures, lawns, ornamentals, rights-of-way, some crops, and aquatic sites.’
On Tuesday, Bangor Daily News reported the astonishing total fine.
Trees are seen on December 1, 2022 wrapped in red tape, amid the investigation into the herbicide
The Gorman home (left) sits down the slope from the Bond house (right)
Trees marked with red spray paint are seen amid the investigation into the herbicide use
The Bonds agreed to pay $180,000 as a penalty for the violations, as well as an estimated $30,700 for environmental testing and monitoring, said Jeremy Martin, the Camden planning and development director.
They will also be liable for the costs of potential contamination found on town property.
The Bonds must also pay $4,500 to Gorman for unlawful application of the herbicide Tebuthiuron – the chemical name of the product.
Next month an engineering firm will begin work testing surface and ground water for contamination.
‘The town of Camden is committed to protecting the environment and takes these types of violations very seriously, as demonstrated by the significant financial penalty,’ said Martin in a statement.
‘The Bonds admitted responsibility and worked to resolve the matter through counsel.’