By GEOFF PENDER and PATRICK PETERSON
THE SUN HERALD
Benefield joins race for mayor
GULFPORT -The Biaginis were living in New Jersey when a relative called to tell them someone was digging on their property in Harrison County.
"We started making phone calls," said David Biagini. "We called the city, and they didn't know anything about it, so we figured it had to be the county. But when we called them, they said there was no way were they down there, because they hadn't gotten any easements yet, and they were working on the creek way south of there."
After several more telephone calls, Biagini said, "We finally got the county to agree they were out there. They told us, 'You'll have to call (Supervisor) Larry Benefield about that work.'"
"We finally got in touch with Mr. Benefield - either we reached him or he called us back - and he said they were up on our land because they had to take advantage of the good weather they were having. That's about the only explanation I can remember he gave us."
Biagini said he felt "sickened" when he saw a tax map that showed Benefield owned land immediately upstream of the digging. Biagini said he saw the map only after months of dealing with the county to get reimbursed for damage to his land.
Records show the county reimbursed the Biaginis and at least one other property owner a total of about $12,000.
"They basically dug a ditch to drain (Benefield's) property," said Donald Pierson, who owns a small piece of land on the creek. Half of Pierson's property was inaccessible when the county finished work.
Property owners weren't the only ones the county failed to notify before going to work. Permission also was needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers because the project damaged wetlands.
The corps granted a permit after the fact, detailing significant clearing and digging in the creek bed. The permits says the project's purpose was to "improve drainage above Duckworth Road," which is where Benefield's subdivision lies.
Pierson and his wife, Donna, brought up the project in a recent public hearing on tax reappraisals. They believed the county was charging too much for taxes on their land.
The creek had been small enough to step across, they said, until county crews went to work. When they finished, the creek was at least 6 feet deep and 10 to 20 feet wide, with steep walls.