If the officers worked five days a week, 50 weeks a year, that comes out to 28 tickets a day.

When the Whipkey brothers started working in Gauley Bridge -- Shawn in December 2002 and Heath in March of 2003 -- the number of speeding tickets rose dramatically.

| In 2002, Gauley Bridge reported issuing 28 speeding ticket convictions to the DMV for the entire year.

| In 2003, the number rose to 268.

| Last year, Gauley Bridge police issued 1,528, according to DMV numbers.

As the number of speeding tickets has risen, so has the percentage of fines, fees and court costs that make up the town's annual revenue.

In the 2002-03 fiscal year, fines, fees and court costs made up just 3 percent of the city's budget. That number jumped to 26 percent in the 2003-04 fiscal year.

Dale said that generally speaking, a little more than 50 percent of the revenue collected by a city in fines, fees and court costs comes from speeding tickets.

Town officials did not return calls from the Gazette-Mail for this story.

"It's hidden"

It's also not clear if Gauley Bridge is reporting all of the speeding ticket convictions from which the city collects fees.

The Gazette-Mail asked Gauley Bridge officials for a copy of the city budgets for each fiscal year from 2002-03 through 2009-10 and a breakdown of the fine revenues regarding traffic and speeding tickets for each of those years.

The city sent copies of its annual budget, but not a breakdown of fine revenues.

When the Whipkey brothers worked in Summersville from 2000 to 2002, the town reported just 3,488 tickets to the DMV -- far fewer than the 12,319 speeding tickets Summersville records showed at the time.

Speeding tickets that are written out may be disposed of in two ways so as to not show up on the DMV statistics, Dale said. Many cities have a diversion program where drivers can take classes, pay fines and get tickets resolved without having them submitted to the DMV and having points taken off their licenses.

Or, drivers can take tickets to court and be found not guilty, Dale said.

"Really, there is no way of knowing how many tickets are issued," he said. "There's no reconciliation of that, ... but the law requires convictions be sent to us unless there is a diversion program."

Michael Bell was driving with his father through Gauley Bridge last summer when he was pulled over and issued a ticket. Bell said he paid the $150 fine but never got a notice from the DMV that the ticket was reported.

He says he was going about 30 mph and didn't see the 25 mph sign.

"If there is one, it's either posted high or it's hidden," Bell said. "I would've gone back there and looked for it, but I was mad. I was riding my brakes."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.

"I had slowed down already for the railroad track," Wright, of Pittsboro, N.C., said of her first ticket. "My mother had wanted to stop at the store, so I slowed down for that. There was no way I was speeding."

In June 2008, she was driving west on W.Va. 39 into Gauley Bridge from a family reunion in Summersville and slowed when the speed limit changed to 25 mph.

The police officer issued Wright a speeding ticket. She wanted to fight the ticket, but because she is from another state and couldn't get back for a court date, she paid the fine.

"I wasn't happy," she said.

She's not alone. In the past three and a half years, Gauley Bridge police have issued 5,057 speeding tickets -- more than any other city or town in the state, according to figures from the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles.

Every year since 2006, the town has collected at least a half-million dollars in fines, fees and court costs -- including speeding tickets, according to documents from the State Auditor's Office. That figure also includes other violations, such as parking tickets.

The fees make up well over 50 percent of the town's budget for each of the past five years.

Even taking a longer view -- since 2000 -- Gauley Bridge police officers have written 6,270 speeding tickets, more than any municipality except Charleston and Parkersburg, according to DMV statistics.

Wright said she got her second ticket a year after the first, while driving to the same family reunion.

She said she was being very cautious of her speed.

"Me, my husband and mother were all staring at the speedometer," Wright said. "I had already gotten a $150 ticket, and didn't want another."

This time, an officer cited her for going 36 in a 25 mph zone. Wright said the officer was not very sympathetic when she denied speeding.

"His reply was, 'Oh well, better have your speedometer checked,'" Wright said.

Wright is far from the only person who claims to have been unfairly ticketed in Gauley Bridge. 

CopSpy.com, a website devoted to speed traps, has a long list of complaints about the town.

"GB is a TOTAL speed trap!' wrote one commenter. "Right on the edge of town before you even get to the speed limit sign! ... NO WAY I could have slowed down soon enough from 55 to 25 with only one sign alerting to the speed zone."

"Gauley Bridge may think they are making money from the fines associated with the speed traps, but, in the meantime, the businesses in Gauley Bridge are paying the consequences of such actions," wrote another.

"The record speaks for itself"

"I don't have any information on the revenue they're making on the number of tickets they are issuing," said Steven O. Dale, deputy commissioner with the DMV. "As far as the number of tickets they are actually issuing, the record speaks for itself."

The increase in speeding tickets -- and revenues -- for Gauley Bridge can be traced to two brothers, both police officers, who were responsible for a notorious speed trap in the early 2000's.

The officers, Shawn and Heath Whipkey, previously worked in Summersville. The two brothers were responsible for 12,319 speeding tickets in Summersville from July 2000 to March 2003, according to city records at the time.

If the officers worked five days a week, 50 weeks a year, that comes out to 28 tickets a day.

When the Whipkey brothers started working in Gauley Bridge -- Shawn in December 2002 and Heath in March of 2003 -- the number of speeding tickets rose dramatically.

| In 2002, Gauley Bridge reported issuing 28 speeding ticket convictions to the DMV for the entire year.

| In 2003, the number rose to 268.

| Last year, Gauley Bridge police issued 1,528, according to DMV numbers.

As the number of speeding tickets has risen, so has the percentage of fines, fees and court costs that make up the town's annual revenue.

In the 2002-03 fiscal year, fines, fees and court costs made up just 3 percent of the city's budget. That number jumped to 26 percent in the 2003-04 fiscal year.

Dale said that generally speaking, a little more than 50 percent of the revenue collected by a city in fines, fees and court costs comes from speeding tickets.

Town officials did not return calls from the Gazette-Mail for this story.

"It's hidden"

It's also not clear if Gauley Bridge is reporting all of the speeding ticket convictions from which the city collects fees.

The Gazette-Mail asked Gauley Bridge officials for a copy of the city budgets for each fiscal year from 2002-03 through 2009-10 and a breakdown of the fine revenues regarding traffic and speeding tickets for each of those years.

The city sent copies of its annual budget, but not a breakdown of fine revenues.

When the Whipkey brothers worked in Summersville from 2000 to 2002, the town reported just 3,488 tickets to the DMV -- far fewer than the 12,319 speeding tickets Summersville records showed at the time.

Speeding tickets that are written out may be disposed of in two ways so as to not show up on the DMV statistics, Dale said. Many cities have a diversion program where drivers can take classes, pay fines and get tickets resolved without having them submitted to the DMV and having points taken off their licenses.

Or, drivers can take tickets to court and be found not guilty, Dale said.

"Really, there is no way of knowing how many tickets are issued," he said. "There's no reconciliation of that, ... but the law requires convictions be sent to us unless there is a diversion program."

Michael Bell was driving with his father through Gauley Bridge last summer when he was pulled over and issued a ticket. Bell said he paid the $150 fine but never got a notice from the DMV that the ticket was reported.

He says he was going about 30 mph and didn't see the 25 mph sign.

"If there is one, it's either posted high or it's hidden," Bell said. "I would've gone back there and looked for it, but I was mad. I was riding my brakes."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.