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Neighbor problems spill over at Amityville Village Board An absentee landlord, about a dozen of his neighbors, illegal fences, two tenants, and four pit bulls have heated up into a dispute that spilled over into the Amityville Village Board meeting in June, the final board meeting for the summer. After listening to all sides, Mayor Peter T. Imbert said he would hold a special meeting to help resolve the matter. Catrina Conway of Maple Drive told the board that the landlord, Barry Goldwater, had purchased the home approximately ten years ago and has had numerous tenants living there over that period of time. The home is in disrepair and the current tenants have put up six-foot fences illegally, she said. "They have pit bulls running around without collars and we have a lot of children in the neighborhood," Conway told the board. "They put up a 6-foot fence without a permit and Barry Goldwater (the landlord) has been a slumlord for years." "We never had this high transience population," said Melissa Santos, another resident of Maple Drive. "There has never been anyone (at 86 Maple Drive) who comes in and respects the neighborhood." Santos said the tenants have friends over who bring additional pit bulls and "music that shakes the houses." Most objectionable, said another neighbor, was the installation of a rope hung from a tree in the front yard that the tenant uses to train his pit bulls. "They call it a rope, I call it a noose," said resident Katrina Brown. For his part, the tenant, Marcel Wahl, said the neighbors have it wrong, and that he has been friendly and cooperative whenever they have approached him with concerns. "I have had those dogs and their mothers and grandmothers for years," he said. "The neighbors said I was 'fighting' them and called the police, but when the police came, they saw that is not the case. There wasn't a single scratch on any of the dogs." Instead, Wahl said that he loves the breed, and that he breeds the animals for sale and is trying to form a pit bull club with other pit bull owners. Wahl said his dogs are never allowed to run loose and that the fencing he installed recently was to protect his neighbors' children and his dogs. While there have been numerous incidents in which police have responded to the Wahl residence after receiving complaints, he has never been issued a summons for violating the law and has responded when asked to turn down the music. But he said, the reaction of his neighbors is making it impossible for him to live in peace.
"It has gotten to the point where I can't even go outside and clean my yard with the music on without them calling the police," he said. "I am about ready to move."
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