The toughest part of the Ralph “Bucky” Phillips case for law enforcement was the manhunt and capture of the fugitive. The next toughest assignment could well be in the hands of the state troopers Police Benevolent Association.

The group may find itself playing arbitrator in trying to decide whether a Warren, Pa., couple should get the $450,000 reward that had accumulated during the search for Phillips.

A Warren couple who say they spotted Phillips the night before, say the reward ought to be theirs.

Yet handing out reward money is not to be taken lightly. Did the couple, Jack and Gloria Young, really know the man was Phillips?

And even if they didn't, doesn't their call to police still count as crucial to the arrest?

Or were the Youngs just lucky in reporting a prowler who turned out to be Phillips? And if so, how much is luck worth compared with a definitive Phillips sighting?

- The Star Gazette, Elmira

A congressional proposal to add 10,800 more security personnel to guard the northern border is preposterous.

A report warns that more than 1,000 unguarded roadways offer “quick exit for intruders” between Canada and the United States.

After interviewing officials and security personnel on both sides of the border, the congressional fact-finding group advocates deploying 8,000 National Guard or State Defense Force reserves from all 50 states.

Undocumented aliens are not flowing across the border in droves. The situation in Northern New York and across the U.S.-Canadian border is managed just fine by the civil and military personnel already in place on both sides of the border.

Yes, the 5,500-mile Northern border is rugged and desolate. That is no reason to post a soldier or Border Patrol agent on every hill and at every potential crossing. This is an example of post-9-11 hysteria.

- The Watertown Daily Times