Neighbors Abuzz Over Bees

In the once tranquil community of Ozella, Fla., a property line has become a battle line in a war between neighbors.

"There's no way we're gonna patch up what's happened between me and him. There's just no way," says Shields Gay, who with his wife, Jackie, is locked in battle with their neighbors, Randy and Debbie Foti.

The battle is really a conflict of ideals, reports Correspondent Erin Moriarity. The Gays live in a tidy well-kept home, which is in perfect harmony with their manicured lawn. Next door, the Fotis have a more "homey" existence - and a county permit to run bee farm out of their home.

The trouble began a little over a year ago over a mound of dirt that Foti built between the two properties as a place to store his massive 10-wheeler truck in case of floods.

It wasn't something the Gays wanted to look out on every day.

"I looked at him. I said, 'Randy, what are you doing?'" recalls Shields. Debbie remembers that Shields demanded that it be moved: "He said 'You move it or it's war.'"

Gay, a businessman, went to the county, which ordered the Fotis to move the mound – at a cost of $1,000. But even with the mound moved, the complaints continued.

"Within three days, 67 complaints with the county, from horses, cats, dogs fence, trucks, trailers. Everything they could complain about, they did," says Randy.

The Gays believed the Foti bee business had gotten out of hand, and Jackie Gay, a former model and new mother, became obsessed with catching the Fotis in violations of the local zoning laws.

To provide proof, Jackie began to keep meticulous logs, then began videotaping the big fuel tankers coming in, the employees and their cars, the barrels, the fuel tanks and the bees.

The Fotis tried to block Jackie's view with a 15-foot divider between the properties, but nothing stopped Jackie who by then had made watching her neighbors her fulltime mission.

"I had actually quit my job to stay here full time to document," she says.

The Fotis say this battle isn't about bees or the bee business at all. They say the Gays want to move and this is a way to force the Fotis to buy them out.

"There's only two things that's gonna happen here, " says Shields Gay. "They're either gonna have to buy us out or they're gonna have to quit running their business."

Last December, Debbie was arrested for battery. "I simply touched the camera," she says, motioning with her hand, "'put it down, stop videoing, get off my property.'"

Three months later, when Jackie was driving with her son in the car, she says, "something caught my attention in the rearview, and I looked and it was Randy Foti - right on my bumper." She called police and Foti was charged with stalking.

Randy Foti denies he was trying to harass his neighbor.

The Code Enforcement Board ruled the Fotis violated the law and is sending the case to court. If the Fotis lose there, they could lose their farm.

"It's about not understanding any more what this whole situation's about," Randy tells 48 Hours.. "No one will get anything out of this. There's nothing to win here. There are no winners in this, absolutely none."