By Brian Anderson
Arizona Republic

Feb. 17, 1999

For the 10 months Tony Biggs has lived amidst the ironwood trees and desert scrub of the northeast Valley about the only sounds to pierce the silence were the chirps and squeals of local wildlife.

An occasional plane would fly over or a neighbor’s dog would bark, but it was a welcome solitude from city life.

That all changed several weeks ago, Biggs said, when John Faultner and his five pitbull terriers moved in near his home on a county island south of Carefree.

“Now the noise is just unacceptable, to say the least,” he said. “The fact is that the dogs are just continuously making noise and we’re going berserk.”

Day and night, the dogs bellow from their pens and leashes, Biggs said. People once accustomed to sleeping with their windows open in the neighborhood south of Dixileta Drive near 64th Street now struggle at night with pillows over their heads.

He’s tried reasoning with Faultner, but his new neighbor won’t listen, he said.

He’s tried calling the Maricopa County Sheriff, but no tickets were issued.

He’s called county Rabies and Animal Control officials, but Faultner was only warned to license the dogs before March 9.

Then there is the case in Scottsdale Justice Court Tuesday that Biggs is hoping, but not confident, will force Faultner to move the dogs.

Tensions between the two are so strained that Biggs recently bought a Glock 40 handgun for protection, he said.

“It’s going to get pretty bad real soon,” he said. “This was a nice quiet neighborhood. Now we’re armed to the teeth like we’re in some kind of war.”

Bringing home handguns and launching accusations is uncalled for, Faultner said.

He tries to control the noise but five dogs coupled with the three his mother, Ruth Faultner, owns tend to get a little rowdy at times.

“They’re making me out to be this terrible person,” Faultner said. “I’ve tried to be cooperative with this guy behind me here. I’ll do whatever I can to keep them quiet.”

For the most part, Faultner has been more accommodating than other masters of barking dogs, said Lt. Jim Miller, commander of the Carefree and Cave Creek sheriff’s substation.

When a complaint drew a deputy out to his house a couple of weeks ago, Faultner agreed to move the pooches from one side of the yard to the other in hopes of hushing the hounds, Miller said. He also passed his phone number around to his neighbors to call when they were annoyed.

“That was pretty responsive to a deputy just coming up saying your dogs are loud,” said Miller, who met with Biggs Wednesday night.

But the dogs continue to bark, said neighbor Don Brewer, and Faultner still stares and tries to intimidate people.

“This kid’s just a loose cannon. You never know what to expect,” he said. “The whole neighborhood is upset with this character.”

All the hullabaloo, harassment complaints and court summons are pointless, Faultner said, because he and his pups plan only to stay for a couple more months.

“It’s just a terrible situation,” he said. “I certainly wish no harm on them and I do my best to keep those dogs quiet.”