8 years ago my friends and I were traveling to Florida for spring break and were pulled over for speeding in a small GA town. The cop searched the car and found alcohol in the trunk so we all got a ticket for minor in possession of alcohol( all of us were 20 yrs old). We were never arrested but just given the ticket and sent on our way. I ended up just paying the fine of like $250 by mail instead of telling my parrents and going to court.
8 years later I am applying for a professional license in Alabama and I am asked about my criminal record. I decided to go to my local sheriff's department and get a criminal check for GA(I live in GA). It returned with nothing. I got a paper with a stamp on it saying "negative criminal record".

Does this mean the ticket never got recorded?( This was a small GA town).
Is there anyway a licensing committee will be about to find this information if my own search returned negative?
Should I even worry about this anymore or am I pretty much cleared of having to report this on job applications, ect in the future.

Thanks for any advice given

If you've been cleared in a small town of GA where the incident occurred, then it's time for you not to worry at all. Everything is fine and stop the unnecessary thoughts that are making you paranoid. Smile.

It probably means that Georgia considers it a summary offense and not a criminal offense so it will not show up as a crime. You can search the Georgia code for what you were charged with and it will tell you what it is classified as.