In "Utah vs. the U.S.: Here we go again" (Opinion, July 26), Paul Rolly is way off the mark. Rolly is wrong about the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act giving the Interior Secretary "leeway" to contract with local law enforcement. It requires the secretary to do so once a need for law enforcement on Bureau of Land Management land is determined. It states: "the secretary shall offer a contract to state or local government." No "leeway" mentioned, just "shall."

The real issue here is the 10th Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The right and powers of policing are strictly and clearly a state and local government right and responsibility, not that of the federal government.

In reference to Rolly's closing comment of being a tourist in southern Utah: "If you come upon a weird-looking guy sitting on a bridge and holding a banjo, turn around and run like hell." For me, the sound of a banjo is much better than the sound of the goose-step march.

Ed Phillips

Kanosh