Small Town Descriptions Required for Research

wildsweetone

i am what i am
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Please come forward and describe any small town that you have lived in at some point in your life.

Please state the town's population, and also its location if possible.

They must be non-fictional descriptions of a Real Town.

***

The reason behind this thread:
Authors of Snippettsville would appreciate some real life examples from different perspectives to add to our research.

***

An example from Alex De Kok (I have his permission to copy and paste this) for our fictional town of Snippettsville:

'...Most descriptions were left deliberately vague, so that writers had freedom to work within the suggested framework. The few characters mentioned - Hannah, Jack and Ethel, Tom - were just sketched in to add a little colour to what would otherwise be an empty environment. Some of you have put flesh on my skeletons and made them real.

Snippettsville therefore, is an ex-lumbering small town (probably) in Pennsylvania. Not directly on a main route, it is close enough to an Interstate route that truckers in the know feel that the diversion to Hannah's diner is worthwhile.

I conceived the place as a rural small town where there was no major industry and where a substantial portion of the population commuted to the city to work. Originally I imagined the population to be around 600 - because of the word limit on the stories - but I think we are creating characters from a larger population. Those of you with knowledge of US small towns may wish to advise on this aspect. I now visualise the town as a little larger. How large? You tell me!...'

***

Are their similarities to your town? Differences?

Let us know please. :)
 
Well, I was born in a small town, and though I really didn't live there I visited frequently as the majority of my family still lives there. I'll give you my description and you are more than welcome to use what you feel might be appropriate.

The town is in north eastern Wisconsin, right on the shores of Lake Michigan. The population is around 12,000 and has pretty much stayed that way for the past 100 years or so.

It is roughly 90 miles north from Milwaukee, the state's biggest city, so commuting is not really possible. Drive time is approximately 1 1/2 hours in good weather conditions. (which is rare for Wisconsin) The town is about 30 - 40 miles east of Green Bay, but again with weather, commuting is really not an option.

Industry: The town had 3 major employers at one time, all of them manufacturing. In many ways, it was sort of like a "company town" - almost everyone worked for the same 3 employers. There are, of course, lots of service jobs: restaurants, grocery stores, department stores. Because the town sits on Lake Michigan, there is a tourist season in the summer, mostly boating and fishing, so there are jobs in those industries as well. Lately, because many of the younger residents are moving to the big cities, and the population is aging, healthcare has become a major source of employment. There is a large farm population in the surrounding area, mostly dairy.

Schools: There are several elementary schools in the town, and a couple in the rural areas. There is one junior high school in the town itself, with a couple others in the surrounding area. There is only one high school. There are a good deal of private, religious schools.

Stores: There are no shopping malls whatsoever. A "department" store is quite a different concept than most consider - you would have to go back in time to when a single proprietor opened up a general goods store, and it just grew from there. No name brand stores. There are a few chain fast food stores, and of course, the grocery stores are chains. Small. The people that work these stores know their customers, and conversing is common.

Homes: There are a few modern homes, and a couple of homes that belong to the "wealthy", but most are homes built at the turn of last century or beyond. They are almost all two story (at least) and all have a basement. Garages are not attached, and usually sit in the back of the property. People do not have fences, generally, and if your neighbor does they are considered "odd" or "unfriendly". When you sit in your backyard, you can see into every neighbor's backyard. This is expected. Homes are small, for the most part, though some may have added on. Most have a sizable front/back yard, but not acres and acres.

Town Makeup: There is one "main street", from which everything else stems from. For instance, if you need to get to the Hardy's on the other side of town, you will be told, "Take Washington to 23rd...." It's always assumed you will know which way to head on Washington to get to 23rd and that you will know how to get to Washington. The main street has the oldest stores and restaurants, and both city hall and the police and fire departments are located on it. There are a couple of streets that also contain businesses, but they are within a short distance of the main street. All other streets are mostly residential. There is a highway that will take you to the cities, but they do not run through the town. They are located a couple of miles outside of the town, and the town is not visible from the highway.

People: Generally, people are friendlier. They do not suspect the worse from people right off. However, they do expect others to be polite and respectful. Amongst themselves, they probably know or are related to at least half the town. It is not uncommon to see a friend from elementary school while grocery shopping and stop and chat for a while. The cashier at the video store is probably the daughter of the guy you went to high school with. The police officer who is taking the report of the damage done to your car when you got into an accident is probably your great-aunt's youngest son's daughter's boy. You find this out while chatting and discovering you have common relatives. You know your neighbors, and you get to know them quickly. You may not like your neighbors, but you always act neighborly. People are nosey. (Heck, there's little else to do in a small town!) Neighbors take note if you don't get up early on the weekends or if you stay up late. They know if you work the nightshift at the 24 hour WalMart. They know the car/truck you drive. They know if you like to open your curtains/blinds during the day or if you prefer to keep them closed. They know your children. If something seems at all amiss, they will come over to check things out - especially if you are elderly. If you go on vacation, they will watch your house. If you are a stranger, they will know it immediately. I'm not sure how, exactly, but they do. They are not unkind, but curious towards people not from there. If a stranger is rude to them, they will not talk to you. It is not uncommon to see farmers come into town, and no one points at them or pokes fun. Tavern (yes, they are still called that) hopping is the big thing to do on Friday and Saturday nights. And it is not uncommon to "hop" from one town to the next by using country roads. (Country roads are normally two way "highways", unlighted, running past farmer's fields. Typically, one goes as fast as s/he possibly can because there are seldom any police out that way. A stranger would have a good deal of difficulty on them because they are not marked well, but locals have grown up with them and know how to navigate them very well.)

Religion: Although the younger generation does not always attend religious services, people consider themselves religious. Not so much now, but it used to be that Catholics only married Catholics, Lutherans only married Lutherans, Jews were godless, and who knew what a Muslim or Buddhist was. Times have changed, somewhat, but old prejudices still hold in some families.

Race: Overwhelmingly white. Talking 97% here. When the Vietnamese came into the States in the 80s, some did come to the town. They were not looked upon favorably. They looked different, they dressed different, they ate different food, and they talked funny. After almost 30 years, the children/grandchildren are just beginning to assimilate, but it's still an uphill battle. Mexicans and other Latinos are somewhat of a curiosity and not to be trusted. They are migrant farm workers, so they do not stay around. Any black that appears in town is automatically a drug dealer from Milwaukee. No questions asked, no arguments broked. Just the way it is. Interracial anything is frowned on, period. You might have "friends" and co-workers who are of a different race, but you don't bring them home, you don't date them, and you certainly don't marry them. (But hey, many minorities are too smart to actually live there anyway, so what the hell?)

That's about all I can think of at the moment. If you have any questions, just let me know.
 
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SexyChele,

One question, please. What was the population? Compared to the hick town from which I came, that almost sounds like a city. :cool:

We had a sign that claimed a population of 750 people, and the sign didn't change for over twenty years. :(

Every time someone was born, somebody else had to leave town. ;)
 
wildsweetone said:
Originally I imagined the population to be around 600 - because of the word limit on the stories -
The town I envisioned in my stories was big enough to have a high school and at least one drug dealer. It would have to be more than 600 population. At least 5000, I'd say.
MG
 
You want a small town? Try the one I just moved to in New york State, under 500 year round residents.

It is incredible with 5 lakes, mountains and forests. I get to sit on my porch and see deer and turkeys roam my backyard. The bear are here in the summer, looking for food and I'm yet to see a moose but I'm hoping.

People tease me about living in the boondocks but we actually have electricity and indoor plumbing! All kidding aside, people save all there lives to retire here so I feel blessed that at 26 I can raise my daughter in such a wonderful environment. No locked doors, crime is virtually non-existent. Not so idyllic are the harsh winters but you take the good with the bad, fortunately I love snow.

A great school system, stores, restaurants, ski center, and a movie theater. People are very laid back here, life is slower and it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I'm not sure if this is what you want but you can't get any more small town than this.
 
Quasimodem said:
SexyChele,

One question, please. What was the population? Compared to the hick town from which I came, that almost sounds like a city. :cool:

We had a sign that claimed a population of 750 people, and the sign didn't change for over twenty years. :(

Every time someone was born, somebody else had to leave town. ;)

I know that to some people 12,000 seems like a lot, but when you are actually there it gets small very quickly. (I live in a large, metropolitan area, just south of Los Angeles, remember) Also, my parents came from huge families and it is not uncommon for me to go into a store, hand over my credit card, and have the clerk look at me and ask if I'm any relation to Tommy (or Jimmy or Patsy or Johnny or whoever) Chances are their husband goes fishing with my uncle, their son is dating my aunt's girl, or they used to go to school with my cousin. See how that works?

The population varied over the years, with the big "boom" years being the 40s - 60s. As I recall, around that time the population soared to nearly 20,000. The last time I was there (September 2002) the population was just under 12,000, and I don't think they had changed the signs from the 2000 census. 2 of the major manufactorers have closed down, and the third is closing within a year. With that, the town is losing its population quickly, and I doubt it's near the 12,000 mark at this time. At the rate that the younger generations are leaving, I would say it's probably less than 10,000. And declining. Hope that answered your question - im my very verbose manner! (Sorry about that!)
 
MathGirl said:
The town I envisioned in my stories was big enough to have a high school and at least one drug dealer. It would have to be more than 600 population. At least 5000, I'd say.
MG

We had an Elementary school, and the High School was a bus ride to the next hick town over.

In later years, amongst the 500 people, we numbered 3 drug dealers (one grower-dealer) and one illegal hooch dealer. Not a moonshiner, a retailer. He bought from the L.C.B.O. (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) and sold it to teenagers at a criminal markup. (Speaking as one of his former customers.) :rolleyes:
 
As a lad, our village had a sleepy population of 850. This included 400 pupils and teachers at the boarding school that took up most of the southern side of town.

Twelve roads wandered through the village, crossing an assortment of lanes, oh and we have one train station. Add to this one bloody big highway that we all try hard to ignore.

The best bit was that the river wound its way around 3 sides of the village. This led to so many great swimming holes. So much of our lives revolved around the river, I am shocked that we did not develop scales. In the years that followed I have seen several people from home represent our nation in swimming competitions all over the globe.

As a child, we were mainly known for the Horse and Beef studs that populate the valley, but now like so much of this island, we are being overtaken by the advertising companies for the few vineyards that have sprung up.

Memo to self: Must set up a brewery to compete......
Have river water, need sugar and time.......................

Where do you find this paradise? We are located in a comfortable valley on the Australian Mid-North.

Now we have a slightly larger population…. The boarding school is now in town, not on the edge… The next census will tell us some interesting things including the new population.

:cool:
 
WSO,

Just for you.

Rural town in the southern USA. 600 people, 300 oil wells, 6 bars, 3 chuches representing the three great branches of souther religion, Baptist, Methodist, and Pentecostal. The population is gradually getting older, smaller, and whiter. Once vibrant downtown is now mainly empty buildings due to bad times and Wal-Marts in slightly larger places 20 miles in each direction.

Thanks to government programs, the town has the basic utilities, including water and sewage systems. Both usually work. There is one flashing traffic light.

The nearby river is polluted from an upstream mill and the nearby oil wells. It's 45 miles to the nearest interstae. About half the families have a member who gets some type of check from the government. The closest library is ten miles away, as is the nearest hospital, but it's in danger of closing. The high school graduates about 30-40 students a year.

People fish in the summer, hunt in the winter, go to high school sports events and watch TV. Republicans usually carry the town in national elections. About half the vehicles are pick-up trucks.

And in the immortal words of David Allen Coe, "If that ain't country, it'll hairlip the Pope."

Rumple Foreskin
 
Rumple Foreskin said:
"If that ain't country, it'll hairlip the Pope."
Dear Rumple,
Why should someone wish to harelip the pope? He's a nice old Polack with enough problems already.
MG
 
MathGirl said:
Dear Rumple,
Why should someone wish to harelip the pope? He's a nice old Polack with enough problems already.
MG
Heck if I know. You'll have to ask, David Allen Coe. Maybe you can get a hint by going to his web site and checking out the lyrics to, "If That Ain't Country."

MG, I'm sure you're up on who the guy is, but for the uninitiated, Coe is an "outlaw" country music writer and performer. Two of the hits he's written are, "Please Come to Boston," and "Take This Job and Shove It."

RF
 
Oakridge, Oregon USA

Oakridge began as a small farming community of 40-50 souls in the 1800's.

When the Southern Pacific Railroad put a line over the Willamette Pass in the 1920's, Oakridge became a small railroad town with housing for two-hundrd to three hundred track and yard workers. It had it's own depot and a switching yard for the pusher engines required for freight trains to cross the Willamette Pass.

In the 1930's Pope & Talbot opened sawmill, and Hine's Lumber opend another served by the neighboring village of Westfir, (Twenty miles by dirt roads or five-hundred yards through the railroad tunnel away.) The US Forest Service also sited two Ranger District offices within a mile either side of Oakridge. Between the Railroad, Lumber Mills and Forest Service, Oakridge grew to a maximum population of 4,000 in the late 1960's.

At the peak of Oakridge's growth, The US Corp of Engineers built Hills CreekDam, a flood control and hydro-electric dam, just upriver on the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. At about the same time, the Railroad consolidated it's operations in Eugene Oregon, some 40 miles to the North of Oakridge and the Willamette Pass Ski Area was opened some 35 mile south of town.

In the 1970's and 80's, both lumber mills in the area closed and the Forest Service downsized the staff at both ranger districts. The population plummeted to a mere 1,500 people and the town nearly died. Vigorous efforts by the City Council and Mayor saved the town by encouraging a transition from Loggin Town to Commuter Bedroom Community and boosting the Tourism industry to serve hunters, fishermen, skiers and boaters traveling to the high lakes, forests and other natural wonders of the Cascade Mountains.

Today, Oakridge's Population has settled at about 2,000 -- mostly Commuters to Eugene and service industry workers. Neighboring Westfir adds another 1,000 to the population of similar demographics, and paved roads make interaction between the two towns easy and frequent.

Oakridge and Westfir have merged their school districts, with an elementary school in each town, the Middle school in Westfir, and the High School in Oakridge.

The business District has mostly moved from First Street to Oregon Highway 58, where four Motels and several national chain fast food restaurants dominate.

The Sportsman Cafe is still open and serving as a favorite meeting place and hangout.

The A&W Drive-in is still there and still the favorite hangout or High Schoolers with cars.

Timber Jim's Pizza is still doing a booming business although most of the other "watering hols" that served alchohol have gone out of business -- except for one small tavern on first street that is still hanging on with just local trade.

At the peak of it's population, there were 32 different churches covering virtully every possible faith -- a small Jewish synagogue, a substantial Catholic Church, A very small budhist temple, and Protestant denominations ranging from "Assembly of God" to "Holy Fire Baptised." Currently, no one church can claim more than 100 members, but most of the 32 still survive -- The Budhist Temple is the only one I know for sure is gone.

Geograpically, Oakridge sits at about 2,500 foot elevation -- just below the Snow Line and just above the Fog Line for most of the year. It stretches for 2 -2.5 miles along the Middle Fork of the Willamette river, mostly on the "Bench" above the South Bank where the railroad runs and above the old flood plain. Since Hills Creek Dam was built, there are newer neighborhoods down on the old flood plain, between Highway 58 and the river, and some more expensive homesites across the river or high on the hillside south of town, giving the town a "three-layered" feeling.

There is a nine-hole Club golf course halfway between the "over-the-hill" route to Westfir, and a city park/highway rest area just south of the city limits on the bank of the river (named Greenwaters Park)

----

I went into so much detail about the history because I was struck by the similarity of Snippetsville, PA and my home town and thought their histories mught be somewhat similar (if spread over a longer time frame -- Oregon wasn't settled until the 1850's)

If anyone is interested, I can provide a topographical map of Oakridge, or any small town West of the Rockie Mountains (or big towns for that matter.) I'm not sure how far East my map program reaches for sure, but Arizona, Utah, Idaho and all ponts west are definitely available.

Edit: I posted a map of Oakridge on another thread:

https://forum.literotica.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=5498287
 
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This a bit of a vague description, but then, it's a vague town. I excised it from my nonfiction book- it pertains to the town my hillbilly ex-boyfriend's gun running family is hiding out in, which is Nuwalla, Oklahoma:



I found his brothers, followed the destruction trailing in their wake. I found his mother, living in Nuwalla, one of those true small towns. No Main street, no drugstore, no pretty white pergola on the city hall lawn- just a tavern and a church, roadside, side-by-side, competing for the same business. That odd symbiosis of perdition and penitence.
Ten miles or so away, in the no-man's land between Norman and Nuwalla, lies a cemetery. And in that cemetery lies plot N-7-4. I saw it on the diagram, a neatly rendered white rectangle. They'd laid it all out like that, as if the dead must be wrangled like unruly angus, confined to terrestrial corrals. Seven feet long and three foot wide comprised his eternal pasture.
 
I live in a small town in Massachusetts...about an hour west of boston and 40 minutes north of Worcester.

schools...we only have a k-8 school and there are between 60 and 80 kids in each grade.

religion...most people are catholic, with some protestants thrown in.

stuff to do...our downtown consists of a tiny laundrymat, 2 itty bitty general stores, a bank, post office and video store. The commuter rail to boston goes through our town, which is where many people commute to for work.

To go shopping, you either drive to Nashua, New Hampshire (no sales tax) which is about 30 minutes away or Leominster MA (which is about 20 minutes away but the mall sucks).

The closest mcdonalds and wendys are the next town over

Teh benefits are that most kids know each other as do parents...the kids have big yards, and the parents try to get involved at the schools when they good.

On the down side...there is some problems with young pregnancy and marriage (after hs) and many people don't get out. A lot of the kids go to the local state college and then just go nowhere. I get bored out of my mind, personally and want to get the hell out (again)
 
Thank you so much for spending a great deal of time with your descriptions.


I have memories of growing up in a small rural village.

We had a train station, stock yards, a couple of vineyards, three churches - Anglican, Catholic, Baptist.

Most of the properties were agriculture and horticulture related. Dairy farms where farmers left their cans of milk at the ends of the road for the milkman to collect.

A local primary school catered for 200 5 to 12 year olds. The high school was a long bus ride away.

Local shops consisted of a fish and chip shop, a barber shop complete with the red and white stripe cane outside, an oddball hardware type shop, and a book shop that had books going back to the dark ages and stunk like you wouldn't believe.

A fire station held one fire engine, practise night for the volunteers was Monday and the siren could be heard 7pm every Monday night from all over the valley.

The main road was sealed and a couple of offshoots from it. The rest were metal. The grader would come down the road supposedly every six weeks, more like every six months. Grass grew up the middle of my no exit street right up until about 20 years ago.

The dairy made delicious huge ice creams.

The four square sold everything from tinned fruit to mouse traps.

And it was great.

I have to find out what the population was.
 
Old memories,

I remember this white guy that worked a the paper company use to walk to my neighborhood and drink white-lighting until dust, and then a cab would pick him.

My neighborhood was all black. I don't every remember seeing cops, but the fire department showed up about once a year when someone caught their house on fire.

I always wondered about that guy, because he was clearly an outsider, but he was apart of the landscape.

Kids didn't ask grown-ups questions, it was disrespectful. You could get whipped in the street (in front of your friends) for a simple offense, such as passing by someone's house and not speaking, so I wasn't about the say anything to the man unless he said something to me first. Kids were seen, but not heard.

Funny, come to think of it. I was the only kid in my neighborhood with a single parent. My dad and mom divorced when I was about 5 years old.

My neighborhood changed with the times, somewhat. There were a lot more white people roaming the streets. "Fish Fry Friday" at the Elks club lasted through high school. Friends, family, and neighbors where no longer one unit. Defending the unit became defend the family.

Even funnier, I saw the changes as I was graduating high school. I left and only go back to visit my mother. Everything has changed.
 
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Some general questions, please feel free to answer...

1. Do all towns in the USA have hydro electric power?

2. Are there volunteer firemen in all small towns?

3. Drive-In. This is an outside movie theatre, right? Would they be common in most small towns?

4. Do different church groups/religions share church buildings?

5. What is the route of drinking water prior to turning on the kitchen tap? (Here in NZ we have a mixture of rain water stored in tanks on our properties and large water catchment areas where the water is then pumped into houses - city water)

6. What effect has the 'internet' had on the small town you know of.


Everyone's postings are so interesting to read. Thank you for taking the time to post them. :)
 
Re: Some general questions, please feel free to answer...

1. Do all towns in the USA have hydro electric power?

No, most small towns have "Electric Co-Ops" that buy power form distant power plants and resell it at cost.

Before the Hills Creek Dam was built, most of Oakridge's power came from at least forty miles away at Dexter Dam, or fromas Far away as the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River about 350-400 miles to the north.

In the Western US, most of the power is Hydro-Electric, but from Large Multi-mega-watt dams like Hoover, Grand Coullee, and smaller multi-purpose Flood control/Hydro-electric dams like Hills Creek, Lookout Point, and Dexter.

2. Are there volunteer firemen in all small towns?

Either Paid City Firemen, Volunteer Fire Departments, or Rural Fire Departments that serve several small towns. Often, company towns depend on The Company (like Hine's lumber Co. for Westfir) for Fire Protection -- i.e. company owned equipment and company paid fire-fighters.

Often there is a mix of Paid and volunteers and inter-agency agreements where several small city departments agree to provide one or two trucks to any fire in the area as required and/or available.

A town like Snippetsville probably falls under the protection of a volunteer RFD that has a core of three to five paid Full-time firefighters.



3. Drive-In. This is an outside movie theatre, right? Would they be common in most small towns?

Close, there are Drive-in Movies and Drive-In Restaurants. A&W is a drive in Restaurant chain that got their start as a root-beer soda and Ice-cream stand.



4. Do different church groups/religions share church buildings?

Not very often, although they might all rent the same building if they don't have their own building -- not a "church" per se, but a Union Hall, Grange Hall, or Fraternal Lodge Hall (Elks, Masons, M.O.O.S.E, etc.)

Question for the authors: Does Snippetsville have a fraternal lodge, Grange Hall, or Union Hall?

Oakridge has a Masonic Temple, an "Elks" B.P.O.E Lodge, a Lions Club, and a W.O.W (Wood-workers of the World) Union hall,

5. What is the route of drinking water prior to turning on the kitchen tap? (Here in NZ we have a mixture of rain water stored in tanks on our properties and large water catchment areas where the water is then pumped into houses - city water)

Water in Oakridge and Westfir come from the local rivers -- about five miles up-stream to provide Gravity feed water pressure. In the mid50's Oakridge added a water treatment facility to the system and a Sewage Treatment plant to replace the individual septic tank systems all over town.

Most other small towns have a city well or individual land-owners have private wells. Some small towns buy treated water from nearby larger cities becaue it's cheaper than drilling their own well and building their own treatment facility.


6. What effect has the 'internet' had on the small town you know of.

Not a great deal the last I knew of. Most people have cable TV and and they may have added broad-band cable recently. Most internet access and e-mail are still dial-up and long-distance, though, as far as I know.
 
I've been looking through these posts (please keep adding them, folks!) and a thought struck me. Sexychele writes about a town with 12,000 population. While I was still working for my crust (early retirement is highly recommended to those of you who can!) I worked in an office complex which had around 9,000 workers. I can visualise that number of people and I would have to say that I see Snippettsville as around 5,000 tops. I doubt that mine is the final vote, so please keep the descriptions coming.

Alex
 
I'm a real city gal but I lived in a very small town called Coventry in Connecticutt for a summer. It was idyllic (for a summer). My address was on Rabbit Trail and just down the dirt road was a lovely little lake. I didn't like having to drive to the P.O. and everywhere else, or too many miles to New Haven just for pizza.

But I loved the night's complete darkness. It overwhelmed me often. I'd never experienced such total darkness; think it could make for some interesting erotic adventures in Snippetsville.

I'm for keeping the population very very small (in number, not in people size).

Perdita
 
I don't think a description of a small village on the northern Swedish countryside would help, huh..?
 
Svenskaflicka said:
I don't think a description of a small village on the northern Swedish countryside would help, huh..?
Dear Svenska,
I doubt it. The story would be all about Alpine climbing, milkmaids, and yodeling.
MG
 
Svenska must be ill

Svenskaflicka said:
Only if it took place in the 1800...
Dear Svenska,
Are you okay, dear? Usually, confusing Sweden and that other "S" country gets a rise out of you second only to when you're called "Sven."
Concerned,
MG
 
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