"I have never written to a paper before, but I am so furious that I needed some outlet to voice my concerns, especially because I know they are echoed by many people.



"Yes, there is an ordinance in Rio Rancho regarding barking dogs. ‘No barking between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and not longer than 10 minutes during the day.’

Unfortunately, Animal Control is only open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but that is when the police will take over if you call them. Otherwise, the call will be referred back to Animal Control. I have also been driven crazy by barking dogs and neighbors who use their dogs purposely as forms of harassment on their neighbors or to throw their weight around. Animal Control has informed me on various occasions of these problems in enforcing barking dog laws: ‘So many barking dog complaints that they cannot get to all of them.’ ‘The dog owners get used to visits by Animal Control and watch for them and take their dogs in to avoid being caught;’ ‘A.C. can give citations until the cows come home, but the judges do not fine the perpetrators enough to stop the behavior.’ Well, regarding the latter, I think the judges should increase the fines for repeat offenders and/or start throwing them in jail. If this happened, maybe the dog owners would take this more seriously and then there would not be too many complaints for personnel to respond to. Furthermore, dogs left barking for hours on a regular basis are possibly being neglected or treated cruelly and I think this possibility should also be investigated, in conjunction with noise ordinance violations. If the law does not already state this, I think a finding(s) of cruelty should let the city possibly confiscate the dog(s)." Those of us who purchased ‘track’ homes in Rio Rancho have been bitterly disappointed by the quality of D.R. Horton homes and service. When we bought our home two years ago, we were told that D.R. Horton’s policy is to ‘discourage’ investment purchasers by tacking on extra fees for individuals who do not live in the homes but instead rent them out. This never bothered us because we were buying as a primary residence. Now, we are only one of two homes on the street that is owner-occupied. We have seven rentals on our side of the street, and the majority of landlords live out of state. On top of that, we feel that after only two years, our house is falling apart on us. Our island is detaching itself at the seam, the fronts of the drawers are falling off, and our bedroom closet door does not fit the tracks properly. When we moved into the house we were living with family and felt obligated to sign the papers, but we moved into a house that was not even clean. There was torn carpet, places where the paint needed to be touched up, and carpet peeling off at the corners. Shame on us for signing. But shame on D.R. Horton, who won’t correct the problems that we should not be seeing in a house that is two years old. They are not America’s builder."