The city enacted a noise ordinance several years ago to control disruptions, primarily in residential neighborhoods.

Most mornings, Nutwood Avenue is a quiet street. Give it a while and things start to change. In the afternoons and late evenings, the wide, flat street turns into a showcase for traffic and noise violators, resident Ray Downey saidDowney, who isnt satisfied with police answers or efforts, plans to use a video camera to catch violators himself. Hes talked to police, who said the noise ordinance is hard to enforce and there is little they can do if they dont catch people in the act of running a stop sign. Bowling Green Police Sgt. Bill Key said he has asked officers to concentrate their patrols on the street after complaints were made. We slow it down for a while and then it picks back up, Key said. I imagine its an ongoing thing. While noise from loud car stereos bothers Downey he said it is enough to shake a sleeping person awake Marilynn Downey said its the speeders who bother her the most. It just makes me shake when I hear them speeding down the street, she said. Im just waiting for something bad to happen. Both elderly residents and young children live on Nutwood, she said. I would hate to have children here, she said. Ray Downey thought an unmarked police car would help with the problem, but Key said it is against department policy to use them for traffic control. So Ray Downey uses a video camera sometimes from his front yard, other times from a more concealed spot to capture alleged violators on tape to use for swearing out warrants for their arrest. Downey wants others on his street to be proactive, too, but he realizes that probably wont happen. There are a lot of elderly people on this street and they are afraid it would come back on them, he said. It probably would, too. (My) car has been egged before. A neighbor, watching Ray Downey tape cars, concurred with his concerns about the street but declined to be interviewed. Ray Downey has gone so far as to follow some people home, write down their address and turn the information into police. His wife has sworn out warrants on two people. But they were juveniles, so we dont know what happened to them, he said. Its the same people back and forth. In addition to the speed at which many people drive along the strip, some run the stop sign at Nutwood and 13th Avenue, he said. We just want it to stop, he said.