ORLANDO, Fla. – It was a sound of a ding in his email Wednesday morning, North Quarter Orlando resident Tim Lawrence was wanting to hear.
The morning email informed him that the two boxes emitting an insufferable high-pitched, squeal outside the Orange County Bar Association building on Orange Avenue, have been turned off.
"Good morning Mr. Lawrence. Thank you for bringing this to our attention," he read aloud to News 6. "The boxes have been disabled as we continue to work towards an alternate solution. Please let me know if you have any concerns. Sincerely, Kimberly Homer, the executive director of the Orange County Bar Association."
Lawrence told News 6, he didn't think it would happen this fast.
"Being such a small member of the community, it's nice to know they are listening," Lawrence said.
It was the same email sent Wednesday to News 6, which was following up on a story reported Tuesday. Lawrence said the noise had been a nuisance in the North Quarter downtown Orlando neighborhood for years, but he had just moved in months ago and couldn't take it.
"It was just annoying, constant," he said.
Lawrence created a Facebook page called "Stop the Squeal" and reached out to News 6 in the hope of getting results.
"Really, Channel 6 living up to its motto of getting results is really nice," Lawrence said.
The Orange County Bar Association told us it mounted the sound emitters to keep dogs from defecating on its property, saying it was a sanitary issue.
Lawrence said now that the boxes are off, the neighbors need to be aware of that.
"I guess right now it's up to us, the residents, to show them, 'Hey, thank you for being (a) responsible member of the community.' It's our job to be responsible now and make sure that we are picking up after our pets," he said.
A spokesperson at the bar association said the organization is working on a more permanent solution to fix the dog waste problem, so the squealing sound will stay silenced.