A late-night party house in rural Phoenix, along with other high-decibel offenders, prompts Sheriff Mike Winters to find a legal solution

His neighbors are furious about his noisy, late-night parties, but Bill Schoneberger thinks they should butt out of his business.

"I don’t want someone telling me to do this and that on my property," said the 29-year-old, who moved to rural Fern Valley Road near Phoenix about seven years ago to avoid rules and restrictions.

Seventeen neighbors signed a petition and sent it to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office recently complaining that Schoneberger has shown a complete disregard for their nighttime peace and quiet.

They said he throws wild parties that involve riding dirt bikes on the paved road and yelling expletives that offend their children.

The lots on Fern Valley are roughly two acres but long and narrow, with houses relatively close together.

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Carmen Leroux, who lives next door to Schoneberger, said when the neighbors banded together to ask him to quiet down last September, things just got worse.

"It’s been a nightmare ever since," she said.

Last week, the neighbors, joined by Sheriff Mike Winters, took their case to the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, urging it to enact a noise ordinance.

Winters, who personally has told Schoneberger to stop the noisy partying, said the neighbors aren’t blowing the situation out of proportion and deputies have been called out on eight occasions since mid-September.

"They shouldn’t have some guy who’s a knothead being a pain in the ass," he told commissioners last week. "I feel people have the right to get a good night’s sleep."

Winters, who said noisy neighbor problems are one of the most frequent calls for deputies, said the Fern Valley situation is "just the tip of the iceberg in the county."

When deputies try to stop the partying on Fern Valley, neighbors say they are retaliated against.

Once, 15 minutes after a sheriff’s deputy left Schoneberger’s house, Leroux said he pointed his speakers at her house and cranked up the volume. "The windows were buzzing from the noise," she said.

On another occasion, he fired up a motorcycle near her bedroom window. "He just sits there and revs it up," she said.

Neighbors said that the loud partying prevents them from getting a good night’s sleep.

Frieda Fiero said her daughter has occasionally had to sleep in her bedroom on nights when Schoneberger decides to throw a party. Allona, 11, said, "The speakers are pounding when they have big parties."

Her mother said Schoneberger likes to play heavy metal, rap and sometimes country. "We get three or four hours of sleep when this happens," she said.

At other times, she can clearly hear obscenities, often directed at women.

On many occasions, Schoneberger and his friends ride dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles on a track he has built behind his house. Other times, his neighbors said, he and his friends ride them up and down Fern Valley Road, pulling into driveways and creating a ruckus.

Another resident, Larry Ficek, said a lot of neighbors have come and gone over the years, but this has been the worst situation yet.

"I’ve seen the police in the past five months more than in the past 30 years," he said.

Most of the residents agree that an occasional party is not out of the ordinary, and they also don’t complain about nearby farmers who sometimes have to operate equipment during the night.

"We’re used to farmers driving their four wheelers up the road, but to have parties two or three nights every week is too much," said Bruce Fiero.

He agrees that property owners have rights, adding, "Right now, it’s impinging on our right to have a good night’s sleep."

Régis Leroux said the neighbors are going to continue to push for a noise ordinance to give the sheriff’s office more leverage in dealing with these situations. Winters is drafting an ordinance he will present to county commissioners in the next two months.

"I remain positive about this and hope to get the thing passed," Leroux said.

Schoneberger said he feels like he’s getting "shafted" by the neighbors. "What comes around goes around," he said.

He said he did everything by the book in building an off-road track behind his house, contacting the county and alerting the neighbors.

"This has just turned into a nightmare," he said.

Schoneberger said Winters is setting up a mediation session next week between him and his neighbors.

Contacted later Friday, Schoneberger declined to comment further until after the meeting, but said other nearby residents would vouch for him as a good neighbor.

Winters said that with no regulations to back them up, deputies don’t have the legal teeth to clamp down on noisy neighbors, although they could potentially cite someone for disorderly conduct.

"There’s just not enough laws on the books to handle these problems," he said.

Winters said a mediator will work with all the property owners to come to some type of agreement on this situation.

"We’re going to get a handle on it one way or another," he said.

Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail dmann@mailtribune.com

Reporter JoNel Aleccia contributed to this report.

Noise complaints are countywide

In the Applegate, Mike Higgins, who owns 20 acres off Highway 238, said he’s got one neighbor with a penchant for firing his gun.

"It’s an AK-47 problem," he said. "He’s also loaded another gun with special noise-making shells."

A noise ordinance wouldn’t help Higgins and other neighbors because most of the shooting takes place during the day. "He has shot as late as 9:30 at night," he said.

He said neighboring property owners have varying opinions about shooting guns in the country.

"Some say, ‘If you don’t like the noise, move back to the city,’ " he said. "Some people kind of look at the Applegate as the Wild West."

Higgins is particularly worried about his neighbor because the man has been feuding with others over easements and other issues, and because the target practice takes place close to his land.

"He shoots into the gulch and toward my right of way and if he misses it would go onto my property," he said.

At the other end of Jackson County in Sams Valley, Doreen Savia said she’s had noise problems with different neighbors since the 1970s.

Just recently, she said she was awakened at 10:30 p.m. when a neighbor who lives on a 10-acre parcel cranked up his stereo system.

In the past, she said, "We had 15 hound dogs barking 24 hours a day, seven days a week for two weeks," she said.

About five teenagers on another property also like to play music loud into the night.

"The last couple of years, they bring other teenagers at 3 in the morning with boom boxes," Savia said.

Until recently, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said there was nothing they could do about the noise, she said.

"This is the first year they sent anybody out, or even tried to stop it," she said.