In what may

have been a first for Peachtree City police, a local officer ticketed

an airplane last Wednesday for performing touch-and-go landings in Lake

Peachtree.

The plane was

in town for the filming of the movie "Sweet Home Alabama" at

nearby Wynn's Pond in Coweta County, said Maj. Mike DuPree of the Peachtree

City Police Department. The pilot, Malcom R. Folsom of Greenville, Maine,

was ticketed for performing a prohibited activity in Peachtree City.

The department

declined to file more serious charges after learning there are regulations

that allow float planes to land in any body of water in which an gasoline-powered

watercraft is operated, DuPree said. The pilot was also unaware that a

request from movie officials to land float planes in Lake Peachtree was

denied by city officials, DuPree added.

"The denial

was not relayed to him," DuPree said. "He did not realize he

was violating anything by doing what he did. ... He'd just skim the water

and go back up. He was not sitting there."

Because no

standard bonds have been adopted for this particular city ordinance, Folsom

will have to appear in court to answer to the charges instead of pay a

standard fine.