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Biloxi-Gulf port-Ocean Springs-Pascagoula, Miss., Sunday, June 19,	TllC	Icrjlltl
Bennett: 'Gung-ho' about work as mayor
MARIA WATSON Bay Bureau Chief
A year ago, Larry Bennett was a political unknown in Hancock County.
Today, he is the mayor-elect of Bay St. Louis.
Bennett began his climb
LARRY BENNETT Mayor-elect
up the political ladder last December when he ran for
?	and won ? the, unex-pired finance commissioner term of Clarence Ladner.
He has a ?strange and rewarding? feeling after being elected mayor six months later.
And, he said, he is "gung-ho about going to work.?
Bennett was ?always interested in politics,? he said, but never thought he would ?get involved? actively. When he returned to Bay St. Louis from Jackson, where he had been vice president of an insurance firm, he had decided to ?remain in the insurance business and be the typical small-town bachelor.?
That was three years ago.
But, ?One Saturday, the most beautiful lady I ever saw walked into my office,? said Bennett, and that was the end of at least part of his plans.
He and Joan Corso, a
been a part of the Finch campaign for governor) had begun to rub off on the 38-year-old Bennett, by then no longer in the insurance business, but a restaurateur, and he decided to give it a whirl.
His election to the com-mission-council catapulted him into the midst of a history-making process.
A citizens' group was seeking to change the municipality's form of government from the three-member commission to the mayor-council plan.
Bennett quickly joined forces with Utilities Commissioner Lucien Kidd who was fighting the switch ? and also, Mayor Warren Carver.
But, in March, it was all over. The new form of government was adopted by Bay St. Louis residents and those on the present council had to scramble for their political lives.
Carver was the first to announce officially his intention to seek another term, although it had never been any secret that he would do so. Then Kidd, who had had mayoral aspi-rations for sometime, jumped into the fray.
Bennett was the last of three members of the council to announce, and he said he really had not thought about seeking the mayor?s office until friends began to urge him to run.
Also in the race was John McKenna who had headed the citizens' effort for the government change.
When the first primary votes were in, it was Carter in the lead with Bennett running second. A week later, the dark horse had overtaken the favorite and claimed an upset victory.
.SHALLOW-, I WELL
Bennett headed into the general election June 7 facing possible strong opposition from veteran politician Russell Elliott, a former president of the Hancock County Board of
*
Supervisors.
The Elliott threat failed to materialize, however, and Bennett prevailed ? by more than 500 votes.
?The people of Bay St. Louis stood by me for six
months through five primaries,? said Bennett on election night, ?and I?m going to stand by them for the next four years."
It was a hectic six months, to say the least.
Bennett takes office July
5,	along with the five coun-cilmen: Wilmer Seymour, councilman-at-large; Peter Revenutti, Ward 1; James Thriffiley, Ward 2; Harry Farve, Ward 3, and
Fred Wagner, Ward 4.
His opposition to the change of government before the referendum when he was part of a committee formed expressly tc See Bennett, A-8