WARNER, N.H. (AP) – A year after their house was condemned and their animals taken from them, the home and property of Wendy and Ryon Ruff property is surrounded again by junk cars and debris and animals again roam the property.

Last August, town and state officials judged the house unlivable and condemned it, they deemed the animals neglected and seized 57 pets. They also ordered the family to clean up the yard. The Ruffs fixed up their house and cleared their yard.

In the months since, “it’s definitely degraded,” said Wayne Eigabroadt, chairman of Warner’s board of selectmen and a leader in the cleanup effort last year. “In my opinion, it’s going right back to the way it was, which is what we were afraid of,” he told the Concord Monitor.

Wendy Ruff, who protested when the town stepped in last year, says there’s nothing wrong with her property. She wants the police and other authorities to leave her family alone. But Eigabroadt and others in town say the Ruffs’ lifestyle threatens the health of their five children and the happiness of their neighbors.

In January, Judge Brackett Scheffy of the Henniker District Court found the Ruffs guilty on multiple counts of child endangerment because of conditions inside the home last August.

The judge’s sentence included no jail time, but it would have required regular, unannounced inspections from the town’s health officer. The Ruffs appealed Scheffy’s decision to Merrimack County Superior Court, which put his sentence on hold. Warner’s longtime health officer, Charles Durgin, died in March. So far, no one has stepped forward to take his job.

The action last summer came after complaints from the Ruffs’ neighbors, who were concerned about the condition of the house and animals and alleged trespassing and vandalism. One neighbor told the police the Ruffs’ pigs and geese rooted in her garden. Another complained of slashed tires. One neighbor said she was worried the animals were starving; she would sneak them food when the Ruffs were not home.

Last August, town and state officials, representatives from animal shelters and the state veterinarian entered the house with a search warrant when the family was not home. They found the floor and furniture littered with trash, rotting food and animal feces – and a rooster in the living room. Loose insulation sagged from unfinished walls and ceilings. In the upstairs bedroom where the family’s children slept, pornography was tacked on the wall.

Outside, officials found goats, pigs, dogs, cats and fowl wandering the yard without food, water or shelter.

Good Samaritans helped the Ruffs haul out trash and fix their home, and the family moved back into a cleaned-up house. A few weeks later, police charged the couple with criminal child endangerment for the condition of the house at the time of the inspection.

Conflict in the neighborhood has not abated, Eigabroadt said. There have been complaints that the Ruffs are pointing floodlights into the windows of nearby houses at night, and Wendy Ruff was recently charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly running a neighbor off the road with her car.

She also was charged with disorderly conduct for playing loud music on Memorial Day. She said her son’s truck radio was playing while parked in the yard.

Ruff said the neighbors are just making trouble. She said she has videotaped one neighbor trespassing on her property and installed the outdoor lights so she can see what’s going on when her dogs bark at night. She also said someone vandalized the family’s cars.

Dr. Stephen Crawford, the state veterinarian, said his office has been fielding calls and letters about the Ruffs’ animals since January. An investigator approached the house once but couldn’t see much because the Ruffs would not allow him on the property. The Concord SPCA has also received calls and ordered a few drive-bys, but without a search warrant, animal welfare agents don’t have the authority to search private property.

Wendy Ruff said her pets are well cared for and that there was nothing wrong with her animals last year, either. She said she thinks neighbors knocked over water dishes before officials arrived.

She said she thinks the selectmen and neighbors don’t like her, her animals or her children and they’re lashing out now that they were unsuccessful in trying to drive away the family.

“They thought last year on their crooked stuff that they’d get rid of us,” Ruff said. “It didn’t work, did it.”

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