第2243期:Summer Visitors Poison Trees to See Ocean Better

A common subject for British mystery stories is a death at a seaside community.
英国悬疑故事的一个常见主题是海滨社区的死亡事件。

But in the northeastern state of Maine, mysterious, real deaths happened — although the victims were trees that blocked the view from a wealthy family’s summer home.
但在美国东北部的缅因州，发生了一些神秘的真实死亡事件——不过受害者是一些挡住富人度假屋视线的树木。

The story begins with a home kept by Amelia Bond, former chief of the St. Louis Foundation, and Arthur Bond III, an architect. Their summer home is on a hill that looks out onto Camden Harbor, part of Penobscot Bay, Maine.
故事始于阿米莉亚·邦德，前圣路易斯基金会负责人，以及她的丈夫，建筑师亚瑟·邦德三世。他们的度假屋坐落在一座俯瞰缅因州卡姆登港的山丘上。

Amelia Bond brought a powerful chemical that kills plants, an herbicide, from Missouri in 2021. She placed it near tall trees on the waterfront property of Lisa Gorman. Gorman’s home is downhill from the Bonds’ home.
2021年，阿米莉亚·邦德从密苏里州带来了一种强力杀死植物的化学物质——一种除草剂。她把它放在了莉萨·戈尔曼的海滨房产附近的高大树木旁。戈尔曼的家在邦德家的山下。

To make matters worse, the chemical began to spread into a neighboring park and the town's only public seaside beach. The highest level of law enforcement for the state is now investigating.
更糟的是，这种化学物质开始蔓延到邻近的公园和镇上唯一的公共海滨沙滩。州最高级别的执法部门现在正在调查此事。

Paul Hodgson is a resident of Camden who, like his neighbors, feels angry about the event. "Anybody dumb enough to poison trees right next to the ocean should be prosecuted, as far as I'm concerned," he said.
保罗·霍奇森是卡姆登的居民，他和邻居们一样对这件事感到愤怒。他说：“在我看来，任何愚蠢到在海边毒害树木的人都应该被起诉。”

When the trees and other plant life began dying, Amelia Bond told Gorman in June 2022 that the trees did not look good and offered to share the cost of removing them, Gorman's lawyer wrote in a document.
当树木和其他植物开始死亡时，阿米莉亚·邦德在2022年6月告诉戈尔曼这些树看起来不太好，并提议分担清除它们的费用，戈尔曼的律师在一份文件中写道。

Instead, Gorman had the trees tested. Soon, she called on lawyers to take action.
相反，戈尔曼对树木进行了检测。很快，她请律师采取了行动。

The Bonds have paid more than $1.7 million in fines and payments to the town and neighbors. The trees are now gone and the harbor view from the Bonds’ home is improved.
邦德夫妇已支付了超过170万美元的罚款和赔偿金给镇上和邻居。树木现在已经被移除，邦德家可以看到更好的港口景色。

Bond used a chemical named Tebuthiuron. It stays in the soil for a long time where it continues to kill plants.
邦德使用了一种名为特布硫磺隆的化学物质。它会在土壤中停留很长时间，并持续杀死植物。

Scott McElroy is an Auburn University professor specializing in weed science and herbicide chemistry. He said it could take six months to two years for rain to dilute the chemical, so it no longer endangers plants.
斯科特·麦克尔罗伊是奥本大学专门研究杂草科学和除草剂化学的教授。他说，可能需要六个月到两年的时间，雨水才能稀释这种化学物质，使其不再危及植物。

Tom Hedstrom is a local government leader in Maine.
汤姆·赫德斯特罗姆是缅因州的一位地方政府领导人。

"Wealth and power don't always go hand in hand with intelligence, education and morals," he said. "This was atrocious and gross and any other word you want to use to describe abhorrent behavior."
他说：“财富和权力并不总是与智慧、教育和道德齐头并进。这种行为是可怕的、恶劣的，任何用来描述可憎行为的词语都不过分。”

The Bonds have paid a price for their actions, which they admitted in legal agreements.
邦德夫妇为他们的行为付出了代价，他们在法律协议中承认了这些行为。

The money they paid included fees for testing damage to the environment and for using an herbicide illegally. They also paid more than $1.5 million to Gorman in a legal settlement.
他们支付的款项包括环境损害检测费和非法使用除草剂的费用。他们还向戈尔曼支付了超过150万美元的法律和解金。

Hodgson said it is not just wealthy summer visitors who break the rules. He said some residents in the community have been known to cut down trees, knowing that it is illegal.
霍奇森说，不仅仅是富有的夏季访客会违反规定。据他说，该社区的一些居民在明知这是非法的情况下砍伐树木。

"They just pay the fine because they have plenty of money," Hodgson said. "That's the town we live in."
霍奇森说：“他们只是支付罚款，因为他们有的是钱。这就是我们生活的镇子。”