New England used to excel at public shaming. In colonial times, we clamped people into the stocks on the town square to make it clear to everyone the offender had done something to undermine the community.

That kind of thing seems a touch barbaric these days, but we still engage in something similar.

Take Stephen Antonson, one of the most scorned men to summer in Maine (despite not being from Massachusetts).

The Brooklyn artist came to the public’s attention after he was credibly accused of poisoning a half dozen of his elderly neighbor’s trees in 2022 so he could get a better view of Rockport harbor from his own home.

Although Antonson has never admitted responsibility for boring holes in the trees and injecting a deadly herbicide, the state’s Board of Pesticides Control is prepared on Feb. 27 to accept a settlement in which he acknowledges that “a court could find that he committed the violations.”

His penalty? A $3,000 fine.

Not surprisingly, the idea that a rich New Yorker could afford to kill a widow’s trees for the sake of a view hasn’t sat well with a lot of people.

The board rejected a similar settlement a year ago because it didn’t contain an admission of guilt. Now, though, it kinda-sorta does.

Antonson’s neighbor, Ruth Graham, died two years ago. According to her son Steven, the incident caused her “a great deal of distress” in her final years.

That the poisoning of the trees was “perpetrated in a manner that took advantage of an elderly, frail and legally blind person is egregious,” he added in a letter to the pesticides board.

A $3,000 fine amounts to “pocket change found under the sofa cushions in this neighborhood,” in the words of Douglas Cole, chair of Rockport Parks and Beautification, who noted that to charge so little for trespassing and destroying a neighbor’s land sends a message “that crime does pay.”

Antonson, though, has paid a price.

Since the story went public, he’s been locked in what amounts to a modern version of a pillory, deservedly tormented by the press and subjected to withering commentary online.

Before the poisoning, Antonson, though hardly a household name, at least had the respect of his peers. In a fawning piece about his family 15 years ago, the New York Times described him as “an artist with a wily and mischievous point of view.”

In that story, a quoted sculptor said Antonson was “so, so good at making elegance where there was none and giving humor to where there was serious elegance. He does that shamanistic thing, making the everyday magical.”

These days, his every day may not be all that magical. I imagine it could be tough for him to even go to Hannaford.

The thing about serving time in the stocks, back in the day, was that the offender eventually did get released, before the punishment did real damage, and had an opportunity to restore his standing.

Perhaps Antonson can make amends with some elegant, humorous or shamanistic art for Rockport that would show locals he’s not as bad as he seems.

Or, I suppose, he could try apologizing.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Feb. 23 to correct information about where the incident took place.