That story is not at all representative of the rural US in general. Rural Alaska is a very, very different place with a different population and a different cu

That story is not at all representative of the rural US in general. Rural Alaska is a very, very different place with a different population and a different culture where survival and resources are a real, daily concern. Most of the rural US has easy access to running water (parts of the West may be an exception) via a well, and real law enforcement is plentiful. Which is not to say county sheriffs aren't mostly crooked, but it's generally a genteel crookedness as opposed to "yeah rape is OK" crookedness.