By Emily Bregel | Arizona Daily Star
A kerfuffle erupted last week between Benson city leaders and the state parks department over how a massive development proposed in the tiny Cochise County town could affect one of the county’s biggest tourist draws, Kartchner Caverns State Park.
Following a furious letter from Benson’s city manager to Gov. Doug Ducey — who appoints the director of the Arizona State Parks — a parks official initially backed away from the agency’s demands for assurance that the Villages at Vigneto won’t harm the caverns’ fragile ecosystem.