Carlsbad
A Carlsbad homeowners’ group was fined $1,000 by Municipal Court Judge Victor Ramirez for dumping a toxic weed killer in Agua Hedionda Lagoon last summer.
The judge also placed the Bristol Cove Homeowners’ Assn. on three years’ probation for violating the Department of Fish and Game code prohibiting the use of copper sulfate, a chemical highly toxic to marine life.
Initially, an official with the homeowners’ group, Paula Marie Haasl, was charged with hiring someone to dump 300 pounds of copper sulfate in Bristol Cove on the northeast shore of the Carlsbad lagoon. But the district attorney in March decided to charge the association instead, since it directed Haasl to act.
The chemical was used to control seaweed growth in the inlet. It killed thousands of clams, crabs and other sea creatures.
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