This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The recent dust-up between Salt Lake County and the rural-dominated Utah Association of Counties is symptomatic of a long-time public boil that is about ready to pop.

The Salt Lake County Council's criticism of the association was triggered recently by its naming of convicted federal lands trespasser Phil Lyman, a San Juan County commissioner, as County Commissioner of the Year.

Lyman, who said he wouldn't accept the award in the wake of an angry public outcry, became the hero of the rural Utah folks after he organized an illegal ATV ride in a protected canyon on BLM land where motorized vehicles are banned.

After he was convicted in federal court, his rural Utah comrades tried to get the state to commit to as much as $100,000 of taxpayer money to pay for his defense and subsequent appeals.

They see Lyman as a hero for sticking up for local rights against the federal government restrictions on land use in their area.

Salt Lake County is the largest dues payer to UAC at more than $300,000, but folks in Salt Lake County don't seem to have much of a voice in the organization dominated by rural counties.

It's the same problem that's manifest in the Utah Legislature, where the interests of Salt Lake County — the state's population center, its media center, its commercial center and its cultural center ­— are ignored.

There are 75 members of the Utah House, and 63 of them are Republicans. There are 29 members of the Utah Senate and 24 of them are Republicans. Only 17 Democrats exist in the Legislature, and all of them, save one, represent Salt Lake County.

That means that Salt Lake County's representation is locked out of decision making, which takes place in the Republican caucuses.

So Salt Lake County residents are forced to spend their taxpayer money on quixotic lawsuits to wrest control of public lands from the federal government, whether they want their money spent that way or not.

Salt Lake County residents pay a portion of their gas tax toward a ridiculous lawsuit some rural counties have been pursuing for years against the federal government over the closing of roads on protected land. The counties have been on the losing side of that suit every step of the way, and Salt Lakers, I am confident in saying, have never wanted it.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder, for a number of years, disassociated himself from the Utah Sheriffs Association, although he recently rejoined the organization in hopes of coming to some mutual understanding.

But there is a huge disconnect between law enforcement values in urban areas and those in the rural areas.

Salt Lake County sees the value of cross-deputizing federal agents so the locals and feds can work together when needed. Many of the rural areas support resolutions that would criminalize Forest Service and BLM agents from even trying to enforce the law on federally controlled lands within their counties' borders. There was even a discussion within the Utah Sheriffs Association of having deputies patrol fence lines and borders to make sure the feds are kept out.

The Sheriffs Association once sent a letter to President Barack Obama stating they would not enforce federal gun laws in their jurisdictions. Salt Lake County wanted no part of that letter, but its million or so residents don't seem to matter.

Sparked by the outrage over a puppy being tortured by being baked in an oven, the Humane Society of Utah pushed a bill to make certain cruelty to animal acts a felony. Salt Lake County folks supported it. The rurals killed it.

Utah is one of the few states where illegal cockfighting is not a felony. If Salt Lake County had a say, that likely would change.

Another big difference between the rurals and Salt Lake County is whether local cops should be required to enforce federal immigration laws and act as ICE officers arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants. Salt Lake County leaders have argued for years that would inhibit their abilities to find and arrest drug dealers and other offenders because the immigrant community would be too afraid to cooperate with police. But Salt Lake County is the lone ranger in Utah on that issue.

Urban police chiefs and sheriffs for years have been trying to get passed in the Legislature a statewide communications system so law enforcement agencies can communicate with each other throughout the state.

The rurals have blocked the legislation each year.

Maybe it's time for Salt Lake to form its own city-state ­— sort of like Sparta. —