At least one of three heavily timber-producing counties in Oregon last week rejected property tax increases to pay for law enforcement services that had previously been funded by federal timber subsidies. Without the levies, those counties had to lay off 80 percent of their police forces and only offer law enforcement services during business hours, Monday through Friday. If that didn’t sound dystopian enough, the sheriff of Josephine County recently suggested that domestic violence victims relocate for their own safety following the assault of one woman that took place while she was on the phone with a 911 operator who could not find a police officer to send to her house.

Maybe people in those counties don’t think crime can find them so far out in the forest. Crime (and one terrible accident) found its way into the lives of these five TMN writers, though. Here are their stories, ready to read here on TMN or in an e-book you can export to your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, etc.