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California couple fined for digging up and burying Joshua trees
CNN
A California couple has been fined for digging up and burying dozens of protected Joshua trees to make room for a home they were building, officials said.
Jeffrey Walter and Jonetta Nordberg-Walter, residents of San Bernardino County, have been ordered to pay $18,000 as part of a diversion agreement -- the terms they must fulfill in order to have the 36 misdemeanor counts -- one for each uprooted tree -- against them dismissed. The couple has opted not to have attorneys in the case, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Douglas Poston told CNN.
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