If you've

moved to rural parts of Coweta County to escape the big

city's problems, think again.

In fact, if

you live in Senoia or Grantville, you were far more

likely last year to be ticketed for a traffic violation

than you were in the state's 13th largest city, Peachtree

City.

In

statistics obtained by The Citizen, Senoia and Grantville

have a high per capita ticket rate. Senoia has just over

1,500 residents and handed out 1,239 tickets in 1999.

That works out to just under one ticket for every person.

Through

April, Senoia handed out 504 tickets, which works out to

1,500 tickets on a yearly basis, or a 25 percent increase

over last year.

Grantville

handed out 2,500 tickets and has a population of 1,200,

which is a little more than one ticket per person,

according to Police Chief Jerry Davison.

"Of

course, we also have about a mile and a half of

Interstate 85 that we help the State Patrol work,"

he said.

In

Peachtree City, which has 31,000 residents and two major

state higways running through it, the police department

handed out 6,897, which is one ticket for nearly every

five residents.

"We

have the second lowest per capita rate in the

state," said Peachtree City Police Chief Jim Murray.

Murray said

he has heard complaints about Senoia being tough on

traffic and is familiar with how much Senoia police

patrol Rockway Road, which leads into Peachtree City.

Murray

leads a 54-officer team, one officer per 574 persons,

with a $2 million budget, $64.50 per person, to keep

Peachtree City safe. In Senoia, the department has a

budget of $400,000, $266 per person, and nine officers on

the street, or one for every 166 persons, while

Grantville has only a four-officer staff, one per 300

persons, and a $350,000 budget, or $291 per person.

Grantville

chief Davison said the Police Department doesn't own a

computer and said he couldn't provide a breakdown of what

type of tickets the city handed out, but said he knows

what the majority of the violations are.

"We

hand out a good many traffic tickets, but also a lot of

family violence and burglary. Anybody who thinks they're

moving here to escape crime is crazy," he said.

Senoia

Police Chief Ben Thomas said he doesn't keep a breakdown

of the tickets his department writes either.

In

Peachtree City, 2,202 tickets, or nearly one-third, were

written for speeding.

When it

comes to revenue from the fines, Senoia collected $98,000

in 1999, which is nearly 25 percent of the police budget,

while Peachtree City collected $212,000 or 10 percent of

its total budget. Grantville could not provide how much

it collected last year.

All police

departments have to give money from fines collected to

different state agencies, including Georgia Crime Victim

Fund, Victims Assistance and State Wide Probation. Senoia

officials also said that nearly $20,000 of its fines

collected last year was for violations ticketed in 1997

and 1998.

If you're

stopped for a traffic ticket in Senoia, you could also

pay a bigger fine. If you run a stop sign in Senoia,

you'll pay $90, but only pay $65 in Peachtree City.

If you

happen to be speeding too fast for conditions, the fine

is $140 in Senoia and $65 in Peachtree City. Speeding 15

miles over the limit costs $90 in Senoia and $75 in

Peachtree City.

All the

police chiefs interviewed said they get complains from

both sides of the aisle.

"The

biggest complaint I get is that we don't hand out enough

tickets to curtail the speeders," Murray said.

Editors'

note: In order to comply with full disclosure, the writer

of this article has received traffic tickets in Senoia.