Letter: If locals round up wild horses on public land, aren't they horse thieves?

Re "Iron County to feds: Remove wild horses or we will," Tribune, April 3:

Does Iron County not understand that what's inside county lines does not necessarily come, or ever has come, under their, or state, jurisdiction? If the county commissioners pursue this idea and round up horses that belong to the federal government, aren't those who authorize such a roundup horse thieves, and are not the volunteers who actually do the crime horse thieves, as well? Do we still hang horse thieves? Will all people involved in the crime be arrested, tried and imprisoned?

What will the thieves do with the horses they steal? Will they just kill the horses and leave them to rot? Herd them in to corrals and care for them there? (Will Iron County pay for their care and feeding?) Will the animals be butchered and the meat given away or sold?

These are outgrowths of the misguided agenda that politicians are espousing — that if it's inside state borders, it belongs to the state. Not so! Much of the land within state borders still belongs to the all the people of the United States.

Ralph P. Schamel

Salt Lake City