Midler wrongly fells 200 Hawaii trees

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/21/07 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

LIHUE, Hawaii - Bette Midler cut down more than 230 trees around one of her properties on the island of Kauai without a permit, and the state has recommended she be fined.

The staff of the Board of Land and Natural Resources recommended $6,500 in fines for having the trees felled and for building a graded road without permits required for the land zoned for conservation use.

The singer and actress will pay the fines and will follow a replanting program, her attorney Max W. J. Graham said.

The actress and movie star, who was born in Honolulu, didn't realize permits were needed to remove the trees on a vacant 58,000-square-foot parcel of land on Kauai's North Shore, Graham said.

"The whole idea with cutting the trees down was with the idea of improving the lot with native species" instead of the nonnative, invasive species that had grown there, Graham said. "It's unfortunate that a mistake was made."

The National Tropical Botanical Garden, which maintains three gardens on Kauai, will design a replanting plan that consists of appropriate native plants, Graham said.

A botanist hired by Midler after the fact said 120 Java plum trees, 100 octopus trees and 10 to 20 Madagascar olive trees that were cut down were all nonnative species. Some native trees also were removed from the property, the botanist said.

Midler, known for her longtime commitment to the environment, was once known as the Compost Queen and appeared on billboards in Los Angeles advocating green recycling containers are for yard trimmings.

Midler is set to replace Celine Dion as a headline performer at Las Vegas's renovated Caesars Palace next year.

[scott7278]

No need to parse it for me, thank you. I was making a point that it’s hypocrisy for a greenie to remove trees that are already there to bring in “native” trees that are not there. It’s pretty funny.

But, I do agree with you that the government should not be able to dictate what you do with your own property.

[yarddog]

A typical liberal hypocrite doing what she says for us not to do.

As much as I dislike her, I think what she does with her own trees on her property is no one else’s business within reason.

[Polynikes]

“Midler is set to replace Celine Dion as a headline performer at Las Vegas’s renovated Caesars Palace next year.”

I guess Celine has paid off her husbands gambling tab?

[Roy Tucker]

Yup, she’s sort of the Paul Bunyan of Kauai. Hate it when her own Blue Ox gets Gored.

[tubebender]

Unless it is about to fall on your house...

[Political Junkie Too]

Oaks are an endangered species in California. A waterbourne disease, Sudden Oak Death, has been killing the things like crazy since ‘95. Protecting something on the verge of extinction isn’t that much of an overstep by the government.

Are they on the verge of extinction everywhere or just in California? I think it might be an overstep if the trees can be commonly found anywhere else but in California.

-PJ

[JoeSixPack1]

Hmmmmm... Cut, excavate, build, pay fines, do penance.
OR
Apply for permits get refused, fight city hall, pay lawyers, wait years, change plans, get bored, sell.

Hypocrites are people too!

[BIGLOOK]

Just an aside, Norm; The trees described Nohornia, Sygyzium and Schefflera are not endangered nor is having 230 of 'em on the property of about a little more than an acre isn't particularly desirable. It's a jungle. The Schefflera and the Nohornia are rubbish trees; the Java Olive is a pretty shrub and good to have along beach fronts....but of no other particular value.

Over here the state require a 'Grubbing permit' to clear property. A fee paid to the county and/or the state. The 'Divine Miss M', 'The Trash with Flash' is merely a tax/fee scofflaw.

The State is taking their pound of pulp on this one.

BTW, Bette's an Aiea girl, not Honolulu.

[stormer]

I hate to break it to you, but Hawaii has a number of endemic species - they have evolved in that environment and occur naturally no where else. There used to be more, but chickens, pigs, mongoose, and invasive non-native vegetation have exterminated them.

[L.N. Smithee]

So! Instead of going through endless paperwork and possible challenges to obtaining a permit Ms. Midler merely pays $6,500. Looks like she got exactly what she wanted for pocket change.

I have a difficult time believing that someone proposed cutting down 200 trees and nobody said "Eh, bra...don'tcha need a permit for that?"

[Doe Eyes]

I recall she was part of an effort to sue and hold accountable someone on an adjacent property who also felled trees, graded, and dammed up a stream that burst loose and killed a few people. I suppose she thinks she is immune from causing the same problem(s).

From: Lawsuits Fly Over Destruction Brought by Ka Loko Dam Breach

Entertainer Bette Midler, whose property was washed away that morning when the dam gave way and 400 million gallons of water rushed down Wailapa downstream destroying everything in its path, is the lead plaintiff against Pflueger in a property damage case. The suit, which seeks both punitive and actual damages, alleges that Pflueger, who co-owns the dam with his family trust, the Mary Lucas Estate, is responsible for the damage.

The 40 private property owners who joined in the lawsuit claim that despite being warned by several people not to, Pflueger altered the dam’s structure and undermined its integrity by covering its safety feature, a concrete spillway. They claim that his actions caused the dam to fail.

Pflueger denies ever seeing a concrete spillway, despite several documents on file with the state noting such a structure as far back as the 1980s.

Besides causing millions of dollars in damage to miles of private and state property, wiping out a state highway and bridge, and covering the beach and riverbed with sediment and toxic debris, which still remains five months later, the dam breach took the lives of 8 people, including a mother who was 8 months pregnant and her unborn child. Separate legal action against Pflueger and the Mary Lucas Estate for the deaths of these victims, including Aurora Fehring-Dingwall, her husband Alan Dingwall, and their nearly 2-year-old son, Rowen; Wayne Rotstein; Tim Noonan; Daniel Arroyo, his fiance Christina McNees and their unborn child, has already been filed.

[tajgirvan]

Hey , Tell that to the Developers in Glendora ,CA, If you read about some lady chained to 200 year old oak trees because some Texas real estate nut wants to build 300 homes on our Golf course! Talk about sacred ground! Our city council is a bunch of deep pocket car dealers! Thanks for the rant I saw the word California and oak tree and what is this post about???......lol ;p Now , I must go pray for those so and so’s :)

[Octar]

There are no native species in Hawaii. Everything came from somewhere else.

Right you are I used to live on Oahu and while there I studied the origins of the existing flora and fauna. Everything came there from somewhere else. The Hawaiian islands are, after all, fairly young.

While I don't care much for Ms Midler, she did what she wanted to do with the property that she owned. I own a lot of property with thousands of trees. I will cut all of them down if I so choose. Because they are my trees. Ms Midler did what she wanted to do with her trees. We don't meed some government yoyo making decisions for us about our property.

[Paleo Conservative]

Those are cheap trees, just $28.26 each.

[freeplancer]

IF one goes back far enough, there is no such thing as native trees.

[BurbankKarl]

She is a star, she can do what she wants.

[Axenolith]

Yea, but they could “die”...

[Axenolith]

Dude, they’re a far cry from extinction. You got a link for the “endangered” [official] status?

They’re probably going to mow through a few thousand for the 4th bore of the Caldecott, and there’s an adjacent developement that’s probably graded over acres of them...

[John Valentine]

I’m with you on every single point.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Bette doesn't care about the environment. Who cares if she'll pay the fines? She got caught.

What this says is she is willing to slaughter hundreds of trees--"protected" or not, to make herself more comfortable, to accomodate her desires for her property.

The same thing the liberals she supports would take away from, ahem, the middle class.