Bette Midler Under Fire for Cutting Down 230
Trees on Hawaiian Property Without Permit
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007
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Associated Press
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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.
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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.
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The singer and actress will pay the fines and will follow a replanting program, her attorney Max W. J. Graham said.
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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.
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"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."
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The National Tropical Botanical Garden, which maintains three gardens on Kauai, will design a replanting plan that consists of appropriate native plants, Graham said.
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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.
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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.
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Midler is set to replace Celine Dion as a headline performer at Las Vegas's renovated Caesars Palace next year.
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Isn't it celebrities that are scaring people concerning the supposed crisis of Global Warming? I don't believe in cutting down any tree unless it is for a sing and dance reason - native tree or no.
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I try to do a lot in my house as far as recycling, tree planting, not using pesticides. I changed almost all of my light bulbs to CF bulbs. I signed up for total wind power for my house through Peco Wind. I've tried to reduce my auto travel to use less gas, and tried to not use my air conditioner as much for the same reason. (You use quite a bit of extra gas just in using the air conditioner.) I try not to use as many plastic trash bags, but switched to paper lawn bags instead. I don't water my lawn, and don't plant generally plant annuals-except on my porch. I even recycle dish water with watering my plants.
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I've been improving quite a bit on this over the years.
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I take this stuff seriously.
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My feeling is that by Ms. Midler cutting down 230 trees for a driveway counteracted all that I did in my house this year for the environment.
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You either take this stuff about the environment seriously or you in reality don't. Is it ok to advocate only as long as it is convenient and doesn't require any sacrifice?
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I used to be a bit of a fan of Ms. Midler.
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I'm finding that many of these celebrities are just simply full of baloney.
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I care about what kind of world my grandchildren will inherit.
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