Fed up with

seeing litter along the city's 80-plus-mile system of golf cart paths,

Peachtree City resident Bill Aleshire wants the City Council to do something

about the problem.

Much of the

litter along the paths comes in the form of fast food wrappers and drink

cups, Aleshire told council last week. He suggested the city could implement

a 25-cent tax on each item sold through the drive-through at local restaurants

to help pay for the city employees who clean up the litter on the cart

paths.

Several council

members immediately balked at that idea, wary of holding restaurants responsible

for the carelessness of regular citizens.

Colin Halterman,

city public services director, said two full-time employees pick up the

litter along the paths. The restaurants have also been helping keep the

paths clean in their areas, he added.

Plenty of trash

receptacles are scattered throughout the path system for disposal of waste,

Halterman said. Sometimes, however, the cans are subject to vandalism

and are thrown in the lakes where they must be retrieved, he added.

Mayor Bob Lenox

said the issue has come up before several times and he once wanted to

allow citizens to issue "tickets" to violators before the police

chief talked him out of it.

"Unfortunately,

it's the good citizens who have to pick up the slack," said councilwoman

Annie McMenamin. She suggested that a person cited for littering highlighted

in the local newspapers would help get people's attention and discourage

them from littering.

"Annie

makes a good point; when there's litter on our cart path system, the enemy

is us," Lenox explained.

Councilwoman

Carol Fritz suggested using the school system to educate young children

about the problems litter causes. Councilman Dan Tennant joked that someone

could start a "golden ticket" litter campaign, placing a coupon

that could be exchanged for cash in a piece of litter on the path system,

encouraging residents to pick up after each other.

Council took

no official action on Aleshire's request.