“A California business executive has agreed to pay a $50,000 fine for poisoning trees to enhance the view from his Lake Tahoe home. John Fitzhenry apologized Wednesday to officials with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. ‘This has been the most foolish thing I’ve ever done,’ he said. Agency staff discovered last summer that Fitzhenry poisoned three, 40-foot Jeffrey pines on his $2.4 million property in Dollar Point on Tahoe’s north shore. Inspectors noticed the trees were ailing while responding to the Silicon Valley executive’s request for approval to cut them down. Officials said Fitzhenry, vice president of human resources for San Jose, Calif.,-based computer chip maker Altera Corp., drilled holes in the base of the trees and applied a herbicide. In February, TRPA staff had proposed a $17,000 fine. But environmentalists and agency governors called that amount paltry, saying it would do little to deter wealthy Tahoe homeowners from similar actions to boost the value of their property.” (04/27/06)