As you may or may not know, in Washington, D.C. carved in stone at the Department of Justice is the following inscription flanked by stone pillars:

"Equality under the Law"

As children we are taught that this country is built upon the foundation of liberty and justice for all. With slavery, we saw that this country can slide off its foundations, and in recent years we have seen it again with eminent domain.

As a website called "Free Peltier" reminds us:

Every American schoolchild learns about the Magna (Carta, and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and learns that these documents make up the body of law that guarantees justice to all. On paper, the American democratic judicial system is engineered to ensure that each individual is indeed treated equally under the law. The people elect legislators who make the laws; they elect governors and presidents who administer the laws;judges are elected or appointed by elected officials, and there judges and juries of peers impartially uphold, interpret, and protect the people's laws. Sometimes it works: sometimes it doesn't.

So we are asking a very uncomfortable question today in light of recent local current events and news: Is everyone treated equally under the eyes of the law? Or are certain folks treated differently?

Years ago the story of the Sixers' star Dr. J and a partying child of his was big local news. Dr. J's kid got busted for a whale of an underage party as we recall...Yet it seems, that the recent sons of high profile sports figure fathers have slid under the radar for quite a while. Even in our local papers, which weekly publish the police briefs or "who's who of DUI". Can anyone recall seeing the alleged crimes referenced in the articles we are going to promote? Just asking.

Reid son admits taking heroin
Garrett Reid told police he'd used heroin before his accident in Montco.
By Mari A. Schaefer and Larry King
Inquirer Staff Writers

The eldest son of Eagles coach Andy Reid admitted using heroin before causing a traffic accident this week in Montgomery County, court documents show.

Garrett Reid, 23, "acknowledged using heroin... on Tuesday," according to a search-warrant affidavit released yesterday. He made the admission in a written statement he gave police after the accident.

"Reid also acknowledged possessing drug paraphernalia including hypodermic syringes," the affidavit said.

Police obtained search warrants that led them to a handgun, ammunition, suspected drugs and other items in two vehicles owned by the Eagles head coach. A second gun and more ammunition were found in the Reids' Villanova house.

While Andy Reid is not suspected of wrongdoing, two of his sons, Garrett and Britt, 21, await the results of lab tests that could deepen their legal trouble.

Also under scrutiny is the ownership of the guns found in the Reid house, and whether Britt Reid illegally wielded one during an alleged road-rage incident Tuesday morning in West Conshohocken.

....Garrett Reid, whose speeding SUV allegedly ran a red light in Plymouth Township and injured a woman when it crashed into her car, is awaiting the results of drug and alcohol tests. Also being examined are white powder, syringes and other drug paraphernalia - including a set of scales - found in Reid's pockets or inside his vehicle.

The fate of Britt Reid, accused of waving a handgun at another motorist earlier the same day in West Conshohocken, also hinges in part on lab tests of suspected drugs. Officers who searched the black SUV he was driving found plastic bags with white residue; containers holding white powder and a green, leafy substance; and four small, white pills - as well as a handgun and ammunition, according to court documents.

Still another focus is the gun believed to have been in Britt Reid's vehicle, along with a second handgun found in the Reids' house late Tuesday.....Until now, the former Harriton High School football players have had a long history of driving misadventures and minor arrests.

Court records show that Garrett Reid has at least four speeding convictions and two other traffic violations in this area since 2001. He also pleaded guilty in 2004 to shoplifting $61.95 of merchandise from a Sam Goody music store in Ardmore.

Britt Reid has at least one speeding conviction. By his own admission, he has been involved in three crashes since 2002, one of which resulted in an ongoing lawsuit in Montgomery County Court.

The injured driver in that case, Murray Nathanson of Wynnewood, has accused Britt Reid of speeding and recklessly colliding with his vehicle on Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore while driving an Eagles-leased GMC Yukon SUV in January 2002.

....In Reid's vehicle, the affidavit said, police saw "a triple beam scale commonly used in drug trafficking," ammunition and a pellet gun.

Officers patted Reid down and found a knife, two uncapped used hypodermic syringes, cotton balls, adhesive tape, prep swabs, a spoon and scissors.

Reid "did not follow simple directions," the affidavit said. He "appeared to be very calm and could not understand what was told to him."

For Andy Reid's sons, troubling new questions
By DAVID GAMBACORTA & WENDY RUDERMAN
215-854-5994

THE INVENTORY sheet reads like a hardened criminal's Christmas wish list: a Remington shotgun; a handful of pills; eight plastic baggies with white residue; a bottle filled with a green, leafy substance, and ammunition.

Few people would expect items like bullets and drug paraphernalia to be in a car driven by one of Andy Reid's broad-shouldered sons.

....To make matters worse, another shocking twist was added to the Reid family drama yesterday: Police say Garrett Reid confessed to being high on drugs when he ran through a red light and totaled a woman's car in Plymouth Township Tuesday afternoon.

The new developments raised troubling questions about Andy Reid's two oldest sons and their involvement with illegal drugs.

But as another day passed without either Garrett, 23, or Britt, 21, being charged with committing a crime, another serious issue was raised: Are the sons of the Eagles head coach receiving special treatment?