Andy of Mayberry alive and well in S.C.

BONNEAU, S.C., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Frankie Thompson of Bonneau, S.C., looks to Andy of Mayberry as his role model and as such has created one of the nation's premiere speed traps.

The Charleston Post and Courier reports Thompson and the town's other police officer, Jerry Haynie, generate about a quarter of the community's annual budget, handing out about 65 traffic tickets a month along U.S. 52, averaging $232 per ticket.

"I like small-town policing. I've always watched 'The Andy Griffith Show,' I like Mayberry," Thompson told the newspaper. "I don't have to be in a big department."

For those too young to remember, "The Andy Griffith Show" was a 1960s television comedy classic, portraying a small North Carolina town where nearly everyone drove slowly.

"We are definitely out there (patrolling) every day," Thompson said.

"Usually I charge them with failure to obey traffic laws, which is, I hate to say this, an advantage to the person that I pulled. This way they don't lose any points, their insurance won't go up and the fine is set by the state at $232. I have no control over that part."