Photo by Hunter Wilson/Daily News Residents and officials walk down McElroy Way during Monday’s Summer Stroll through the T.C. Cherry Elementary School area.

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About 30 residents of the neighborhood around T.C. Cherry Elementary School had pleasant weather for a walk in the (rapidly growing) dark with a crowd of local officials Monday night, a Summer Stroll that seemed to draw little more than the ever-present complaints about speeding and minor disturbances.

All city commissioners, many city department heads, police, firefighters, representatives of Bowling Green Municipal Utilities and Scott Waste Services, and Warren County Magistrate Eddie Beck met in the parking lot of the new school building. There, they heard that some juveniles were repeatedly knocking down the construction fence around the school, and 14th Avenue resident Terry Lawrence said speed bumps on his street had done little to slow speeders.

Lawrence said his son regularly bicycles the streets in the neighborhood, and many children walk to school, but fast-moving, cut-through traffic has increased since apartments were built nearby.

“Speeding is something we hear a lot of, every time,” said Sgt. Brian Harrell, district supervisor for the Bowling Green Police Department.

Officers on patrol have made more than 70 traffic stops in the area since January, but residents have only called in two actual complaints of speeding, he said.

The key to catching speeders - or any other violator - is to report incidents regularly, so that police will know to watch an area more closely, Harrell told residents.

Judging by reports and actual crimes in the last year, the neighborhood is one of the best in the city, with most crimes being minor and few in number, he said. The largest number of police calls by far - 22, or nearly four times the next largest category - were for animal control, Harrell said.

The group moved down Liberty Way to Henry Drive, McElroy Way and Kirby Drive, eventually circling back to the starting point. Walkers were preceded by police on bicycles, who watched traffic at intersections, and followed by a fire truck.

Kirby Drive resident Betty Crayton asked Commissioner Joe Denning if the city still had a bird abatement program. She’s had trouble with large flocks settling in her trees, spattering her sidewalk with droppings, she said.

Denning called over Neighborhood Action Coordinator Karen Foley, who advised her to make noise for a couple of nights as the birds are settling down for the evening - Mayor Elaine Walker said that Bent Tree residents banged pots and pans outside when they had starling problems - but in case that doesn’t work, Foley made a note to tell animal control officers.

According to the city’s Web site, Bowling Green no longer contracts with the USDA for bird abatement. Instead, it urges citizens to contact the USDA directly at 202-3051.