The majority of the people who read this letter labor under the idea that justice is for everyone. They believe that if you break the law and are caught red-handed, justice will prevail.

Well, think again, I thought the same way until Jan. 8, 2009, when injustice reared its ugly head.

At 12:05 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving, my overnight guests were awakened by the sound of a high-powered rifle fired a matter of yards from my front door. The sound awoke all of us who were fast asleep. Two people were already awake to see a hunter on an ATV spotlight deer, shoot the deer, drive down, put the deer on the ATV and go back to his house next door.

The Department of Natural Resources ranger was called; the man was caught with the deer, blood on the ATV still warm; the deer was confiscated; charges were written against the man for spotlighting and shooting deer at night, shooting on land without permission.

Later, deer at a cooler were confiscated that had never been tagged according to hunting laws, ejected bullets were found where the deer was shot on land next door to where this man rents a house. Two witnesses signed statements saying they saw the man spotlight and shoot the deer on the land across the road from our home.

Closed case, you think. Not so.

Someone pulled a fast one and the case went to court on Jan 8, 2009, in traffic court, and the Department of Natural Resources was never notified of the court date.

The man pled nolo (no contest) and the judge fined him $200, a smack on the hand for a man who was also caught in 2007 hunting deer out of season.

This man has no land, but he lied to the judge and told him he shot the deer on his land. This man swore on the bible to tell the truth. Apparently that isn’t worth a grain of salt to this man who can lie at the drop of a hat.

The size of the land he owns goes from 50 acres to 35; it just depends on which officer of the law he is talking to.

We have been trying for two years to put a stop to this man’s ignoring the laws that govern in Fayette County. This man thinks he is above the laws that all of us obey.

He has put the life of everyone who lives around him at risk. This is a neighborhood of homes on five acres. The hunting laws say you must have 35 acres to shoot high-powered guns.

If you are a hunter who abides by hunting laws, I am sure you are livid just as we are, and if you are a jerk who breaks the laws hunting, and your truck and gun were taken from you when you were caught, plus a heavy fine, then I guess you are livid, too.

I thought with the growth of our county over the years that the good old boy system of dealing with justice was gone.

Not so. All of us out here were victims of that system that is still alive and not well, but sick.

Our officers go out and spend hours getting evidence to convict a law-breaker, it goes to court and let’s just say justice isn’t served.

This man now knows that I turned him in and he hates me with a passion, so now all I have to worry about each and every time I go out in my yard to feed the chicken or walk the dog is a bullet meant for a deer blowing me away.

When we left out Saturday to go eat breakfast, he sat at the end of his drive glaring at us to intimidate us. I have survived breast cancer and other sickness, but I don’t think I can survive a 30.06 bullet.

All of us in this neighborhood are now at this man’s mercy due to the poor quality of the justice system, and the good old boys who still are in place in Fayette County.

Legay Saul

Fayette County, Ga.