Northeast
Wealthy Maine couple accused of killing trees to secure ocean view, poisoning 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.
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The homes of Lisa Gorman, front, and Amelia and Arthur Bond are seen in Camden, Maine, on June 4. The Bonds, a wealthy and well-connected Missouri couple, poisoned their neighbor’s trees to secure a view of Camden Harbor, outraging residents in the seaside community. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Bond and her husband, Arthur Bond III, an architect and the nephew of 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 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.
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This undated image provided by Vinal Applebee shows the home of Lisa Gorman in the foreground, the poisoned oak trees behind her home and the home of the perpetrators behind the dead trees in Camden, Maine. (Vinal Applebee via 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.”
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.”
A cruise ship crosses Penobscot Bay off the coast of Camden, Maine, on June 4. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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.
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Layers of fog drift over in Camden, Maine, on June 4. (Associated Press)
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.”
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Connecticut
Rain showers slowly spread east today and tonight
Temperatures will warm into the 50s for much of the state unless you’re at the shoreline or near the New York border.
Rain showers will begin in southwest Connecticut this afternoon before slowly spreading to the east through the evening
Much of the state will see rain tonight unless you’re in the far northeast corner of Connecticut.
A few showers could linger in southern and southeastern Connecticut tomorrow morning.
Clouds will linger through much of Sunday with temperatures in the 50s for more of the state.
Monday and Tuesday will be sunnier and seasonal with temperatures well into the 60s.
Cloud cover and rain chances return by the middle of the week.
Maine
Shipwreck Dispute: Maine vs. Salvage Company Claims 1893 Wreck
1893 wreck inspires current court case.
Carrie Jones
Apr 25, 2026
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND—Back in April 1893, the Delhi, a two-mastered schooner sank as it was leaving Somes Sound.
Last week, the state asked a judge for possession of that shipwreck, which is still beneath the water.

According to an 1893 edition of the Ellsworth American, the Delhi sank in 25 fathoms of water. “In beating out of the Sound, she struck a heavy cake of ice and foundered almost immediately, the crew having barely time to escape in their boat,” the short, paragraph-long report reads.
There were 32,000 Baltimore pavers on board that had been loaded by Campbell & Macomber of Quarryville.
Campbell & Macomber had a granite quarry in Mount Desert. At the time, its granite had been used to construct banks and libraries throughout the northeastern portion of the United States.
“In March 2024, JJM LLC filed a salvage rights claim to the ship in U.S. District Court of Maine in Bangor,” Marie Weidmayer of the Bangor Daily News wrote earlier this week. ”The company is seeking ownership rights to the wreckage, but the state challenged that claim, saying that federal law has established that unclaimed shipwrecks lying in state waters are the property of the state.”
The state, Weidmayer reported, hoped for a jury trial. However, Judge John Nivison will instead have a written opinion about the case.
No company has claimed the ship’s title, according to Assistant Attorney General Lauren Parker, Weidmayer reported. This, Parker argued, means the ship is abandoned.
“We are talking about a pile of stones underneath the pile of trash,” Weidmayer quoted JJM attorney Ben Ford as saying. “This is not a shipwreck in the sense that one might imagine a shipwreck to be. The Delhi is no longer there.”
Part of the issues are a dispute over how much of the boat exists; how much is not embedded in the floor; and whether or not it would require more than hand tools to remove.
“A JJM diver was able to pick up a granite paver by hand and return it to the surface in a basket, Ford said. There are definitely pavers on the surface of the ocean floor, but some may be under garbage that has accumulated on top of the wreck, he said,” Weidmayer wrote.
According to Weidmayer, the salvage company wants to recover pavers and artifacts, which it would donate to museums.
“The salvage firm filed suit in September against the National Park Service after the service determined the shipwreck is eligible for listing in the National Register. That lawsuit is still pending,” Weidmayer wrote.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Acadia Brochures of Maine.

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Massachusetts
2 children found dead in Wellesley home, DA says
Wellesley Police discovered two children dead inside an Edgemoor Avenue home.
A police department in Vermont called Wellesley Police at around 9:30 p.m. Friday to ask them to conduct a well-being check at the home. When police performed that check, they found two deceased children inside the residence.
There was no further information immediately available Saturday morning.
The incident is under investigation by the Wellesley Police and the Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Norfolk District Attorney’s office.
The DA says that “there is no risk to the community.”
This is a developing story.

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