I would like to add to the letter Mrs. Hulse recently wrote, "PTC police seem to be tough on teens," because I was one of the teens involved. I was one of the four kids who were all caught out past curfew. I'm not a bad kid; before this instance I had never been in trouble with law enforcement in the least way.

I get straight As, I'm an active member in school functions, and I'm an Eagle Scout. My three other friends also get straight As and one is our class president. I would just like to explain the situation we were in with greater detail.

First, I have always respected police for the job they do; I always was on the law enforcement's side; I believed they were in the right. I'll remind everyone that under the new license laws on class D licenses there is an area stating that driving is prohibited between the hours of 1 and 5 a.m. Well, we assumed if we were allowed to drive to 1 a.m., then we would also be allowed to be out till 1 a.m. Honestly, who wouldn't have?

Feel free to go the Peachtree City information center and look for a handout of any kind that states when the juvenile curfew is; I did.

Three of my friends and I wanted to roll our friends house (roll with toilet paper) as a joke so we went out and we did it. As we were walking back to my car about 12:45 a.m. there was a police officer parked next to it getting my license number. We didn't know what to expect; she heard us and approached us and asked us what we were doing.

By now we had practically freaked because our parents were not the most lenient of people and a million consequences were circling our heads. We told her we had just come from a friend's house and we're going home now. The officer asked us all our ages and names and we were compliant the whole way; besides the fact we couldn't really tell where she was standing because of the flashlight she had in our eyes.

Then, she wasn't sure if we were in trouble so the police officer herself had to radio in to find out when the juvenile curfew was! The officer did not even know when the curfew was; that's how bad the situation is in our county. We all assumed it was 1 a.m., of course, because the only place we could ever find a curfew was on our licenses. We were totally compliant and did everything she asked of us.

Another officer showed up to help escort us back to the police station. When he arrived he asked us our story and my friend made out the first half of his sentence before the officer interrupted him and asked us our age. We told him we were 16 and immediately he ordered us to get in my car to follow him, kind of like a farmer herding cattle.

We had to sit and wait at the police station; it's really hard to explain the feeling you get when you can hear the officer in the next room calling your parents to come to the police station to pick you up and having to reassure them it's not a joke.

We all got picked up and we all got punished severely. If we had known the juvenile curfew was midnight we would have never gone out. I assure you all of our friends know it's midnight now. We also went to my friend's house that we rolled and raked his entire yard and cleaned his driveway and apologized to his parents.

About two weeks later we got a letter requesting our presence at the county juvenile justice office.

I arrived with my parents, and I was asked if I was guilty of curfew violation; of course I answered yes. I was deemed an "unruly child" and I was given a choice of taking the standard three months probation or trying to defend myself in court.

Actually it really wasn't a choice since she assured us I would get nothing less than eight months probation in court because the judge doesn't have time for my type of case.

It's interesting how she knew the outcome of the courts decision before I even decided to go. So I took the first option.

Then I was told that my punishment would be three months probation with a 6 p.m. curfew, and I was not allowed to communicate by any means with my other friends involved for three months. Basically I was not allowed to talk to or see my three best friends for three months, I was not allowed to be out past 6 p.m. for my entire summer vacation between 10th and 11th grade without my parents, I had to make a list of all activities that I would be attending past curfew, and I had to go in for monthly checkups with my probation officer.

This was given to all four of us. I had to ask permission to attend the high honors banquet at my high school. To me this was devastating. To put our punishment in perspective, I know someone who was caught with marijuana on campus and was given six months probation, while we were "caught" walking on a cart path at 12:45 a.m. and were given three months probation, just because we were out past curfew, no reason besides that! Imagine your day starting at 6 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. for three months.

Well I would like to congratulate our police officers on a job well done. They have effectively alienated me and my friends and our friends. I know my support, whether it be money, work, or praise will never go to law enforcement until situations like ours are handled better.

Maybe some think this punishment is justified because "ignorance of the law is no excuse," but I find it ironic that those enforcing the law were in essence as ignorant as we were in not knowing the curfew. When I see police cars now I have to blink to make sure the side says "To Serve and Protect" and not "To Serve and Punish."

I would like to add that just recently one of my friends who was involved in the incident mentioned above was rear-ended and the other driver left the scene. My friend's wheel locked and he hit a tree. When the officer arrived on the scene and my friend told him his story the officer wrote him a ticket for "failure to maintain lane."

It must be pretty easy to maintain your lane when someone hits you from behind. My friend also has to pay for his car and the tree he hit if it dies. I'm sure the officer was just out doing his duty "To Serve and Protect."