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OC<br />
W A V E S<br />
THE MAGAZINE FOR THE OREGON COAST<br />
VOL <strong>1.7</strong><br />
FEBRUARY 2021
Taken on the Siletz Bay in Lincoln City.<br />
Photo by Jeremy Burke
OC<br />
W A V E S<br />
Publisher<br />
Jeremy Burke<br />
Editor<br />
Steve Card<br />
Advertising Sales<br />
Teresa Barnes<br />
Kathy Wyatt<br />
Natalie Lane<br />
Contributing Writers<br />
News-Times Staff<br />
Kenneth Lipp<br />
Michael Heinbach<br />
Katie Wiley<br />
Photographers<br />
Jeremy Burke<br />
Casey Felton<br />
About the Cover Shot<br />
I took this photo the day after Christmas in<br />
2019. I recieved a text that it was going to be<br />
a good day. Little did I know that I would take<br />
a set of photos that would reach millions of<br />
people. There is something special about the<br />
way the Vicotry cuts through the water. She’s<br />
a force and when the surf gets big she puts<br />
on a show. Photo by Jeremy Burke<br />
P.7<br />
Burgers of Lincoln County<br />
P.34<br />
Jell-O Pretzel Salad<br />
P.26<br />
The Queen of the Fleet -<br />
Cover Story<br />
P.37<br />
The Kitchen Wild<br />
oregoncoastwaves.com<br />
Facebook<br />
@<strong>Oregon</strong><strong>Coast</strong><strong>Waves</strong><br />
Instagram<br />
@oregoncoastwaves<br />
P.39<br />
Crab Cake Recipe<br />
P.41<br />
Animal of the Month<br />
All rights reserved. No part of this<br />
publication may be reproduced without<br />
the written permission from this publisher.<br />
Photographs, graphics, and artwork are<br />
the property of Newport Newspapers LLC<br />
©2021 and J.burkephotos ©2021<br />
<strong>Oregon</strong> <strong>Coast</strong> <strong>Waves</strong> 2021<br />
A News-Times Publication<br />
831 NE Avery Newport Or 97365<br />
P.42<br />
Elephant Seal<br />
P.48<br />
Dream Home of the Month
contents<br />
P.46<br />
Rainbow over Whale Cove in Depoe Bay by Jeremy Burke<br />
5
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Victory<br />
STATION YAQUINA BAY<br />
PHOTO BY JEREMY BURKE - @J.BURKEPHOTOS ©2021
PHOTO BY JEREMY BURKE ©2021 J.BURKEPHOTOS
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VICTORY: ’THE QUEEN OF THE FLEET’<br />
aging <strong>Coast</strong> Guard boat placed on restricted duty<br />
or more than 60 years, one name was the best hope for<br />
large commercial vessels stranded or imperiled at sea<br />
off the central <strong>Oregon</strong> coast — Victory.<br />
The 52-foot motor lifeboat Victory came to Newport’s Station<br />
Yaquina Bay in 1956 (although it remained nameless until the<br />
1970s). It was the first of four steel 52-foot vessels built by the U.S.<br />
<strong>Coast</strong> Guard to replace its aging wooden lifeboats, Invincible<br />
and Triumph, and was joined in the early 1960s by the Intrepid,<br />
Invincible II and Triumph II, stationed at Grays Harbor, Coos<br />
Bay and Cape Disappointment, respectively. The four boats are<br />
the only named vessels smaller than 65 feet in the guard’s fleet.<br />
“It’s probably the finest lifeboat of its size ever built,” Retired<br />
Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas McAdams told the News-<br />
Times. McAdams was among the first to crew the Victory — they<br />
both arrived in Newport at about the same time — and within a<br />
year of operations, McAdams was awarded the Gold Lifesaving<br />
Medal for rescuing four people on a capsized boat.<br />
McAdams is known in the <strong>Coast</strong> Guard as the “the champion<br />
lifesaver and lifeboat roller of the Pacific <strong>Coast</strong>.” He’s credited<br />
with saving more than 100 lives in his 27-year career, four of<br />
which were spent in Newport as coxswain of the victory. He<br />
retired to the city in 1977 after returning to Station Yaquina Bay<br />
as officer in charge.<br />
“The Victory could take tremendous breakers, and it survived<br />
one call in winds up to 100 mph and sea swells over 50 feet high.<br />
For 23 hours, it went out and found its quarry and brought it on<br />
in. The only problem was, it was slow,” McAdams said.<br />
Designed specifically for the rough waters of the Pacific<br />
Northwest, it’s built to motor into conditions that would imperil<br />
other boats. Victory is self-bailing and self-righting — allowing<br />
it to stay afloat while powering into the region’s often violent,<br />
massive surf — and has a range of just under 500 miles. It can<br />
carry 40 survivors and tow up to 750 tons (compared to 150 tons
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for the newer 47- foot motor lifeboats).<br />
It was the <strong>Coast</strong> Guard’s workhorse out of Newport from the<br />
time it was commissioned until October of last year, when the<br />
13th District commander ordered it and its sister ships’ use<br />
restricted after incidents of equipment failures and breakdowns<br />
at sea.<br />
Lt. Russel Tibbets, a <strong>Coast</strong> Guard spokesman, told the News-<br />
Times, “We’re worried about their ability to respond in heavy<br />
surf conditions. Over the last few years, our engineers and<br />
operators have expressed concern about the safety of the vessels,<br />
specifically with regard to their ability to tow vessels in heavy<br />
surf,” Tibbets said. For example, he said, the Victory experienced<br />
a generator breakdown at sea, and it lost its radar navigation<br />
capabilities during a mission.<br />
“Right now, we’ve basically restricted the use of all four of our 52-<br />
foot special weather boats here in the Pacific Northwest,” Tibbets<br />
said. “We’re not decommissioning them yet. We still have them<br />
in reserve, and if there was a case where we knew there was life at<br />
stake at sea and only the 52 can do the job right now, we will still<br />
use them with the permission of the 13th District commander.”<br />
Taunette Dixon, co-president of the Newport Fishermen’s Wives,<br />
said the <strong>Coast</strong> Guard notified her organization of the impending<br />
restriction. The Victory is a familiar sight to the organization’s<br />
members, many of whom have watched it with relief as it entered<br />
port towing friends and family behind it. “Because we have a<br />
large vessel fleet in Newport, the Victory was the boat that was<br />
used the most,” Dixon said.<br />
Given their deep interest in the vessel’s operations, the <strong>Coast</strong><br />
Guard invited organization members and elected officials to a<br />
meeting late last year in Newport. Dixon said the <strong>Coast</strong> Guard<br />
brought in marine engineering experts to explain problems with<br />
the Korean War-era boat and issues surrounding its replacement.<br />
“It was very informative. They let us know the problems they<br />
were having, and why they couldn’t immediately replace the<br />
Victory with a boat that has the same capabilities — they just<br />
don’t have one yet,” Dixon said. She said she understood the<br />
<strong>Coast</strong> Guard was in the process of designing and building or<br />
acquiring such a vessel but that it could be years yet before one<br />
is in the water (Tibbets would confirm only that the guard is<br />
“studying possibilities for a replacement”).<br />
“In the meantime, they’ve rearranged the fleets in other ports<br />
and brought in extra 47s,” Dixon said.<br />
In conditions where the Victory would have been deployed,<br />
involving larger vessels, the <strong>Coast</strong> Guard now uses aerial assets<br />
and two 47-foot motor lifeboats. That was the case with Dixon’s<br />
husband’s ship, the F/V Seeker, when it was stranded shortly<br />
after the Victory’s duty was restricted.<br />
Dixon said she was “very happy” the <strong>Coast</strong> Guard reached out<br />
to the Fishermen’s Wives to make them aware of the change. She<br />
said that wasn’t the case in 2014, when the agency announced<br />
in October it would close the Newport Air Facility, from which<br />
it deploys rescue helicopters, at the end of the following month.<br />
That decision was eventually reversed after outcry from the<br />
community and elected leaders.<br />
“I think it’s very important for everyone to know that unlike<br />
when we had the rescue of the helo, this time the <strong>Coast</strong> Guard<br />
has been very communicative. We have a full dialogue with<br />
them, and any time we have questions, they’re there to answer<br />
them. And they’ve said that throughout this process of acquiring<br />
a new boat that they will keep updating us as new steps are taken,”<br />
Dixon said. “I also think it’s really important for people to know<br />
that our whole coalition is working on this too. It’s not just us,<br />
it’s our representatives also making sure that our port is safe.”<br />
WRITTEN BY KENNETH LIPP | PHOTOS BY: JEREMY BURKE<br />
31
While she’s pleased with the level of communication, Dixon<br />
said, the absence of the Victory on the waves is still felt as a huge<br />
loss to the fishing community.<br />
Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Molloy, who was commander<br />
of Station Yaquina Bay until he was relieved by Chief Warrant<br />
Officer Ryan O’Meara last June, was among the last to helm the<br />
Victory. Molloy said he looked to the lifeboat, which he called<br />
“the queen of the fleet,” when coming up with introductory<br />
remarks upon taking command at the station in 2017.<br />
“In order to get inspiration, I spent a lot of time in the line locker<br />
— not a place that someone on a lifeboat would normally want<br />
to spend much time but a good place to find inspiration for my<br />
short greeting speech,” Molloy said.<br />
“One thing you noticed no matter who you had with you — I was<br />
out on the Victory with everyone from admirals to Master Chief<br />
McAdams — whenever that boat approaches the waterfront,<br />
everyone waves at you,” Molloy said.<br />
Molloy, who is now commander of the National Lifeboat<br />
Academy at Cape Disappointment (where he replaced his<br />
replacement in Newport, O’Meara), said one of his fondest<br />
memories of deployment from Yaquina Bay was a cruise in the<br />
Victory up to Seattle for comparison to a new lifeboat in the<br />
Canadian <strong>Coast</strong> Guard’s fleet. “To take that boat from Newport<br />
to Seattle with a few select crew members — we saw whales —<br />
that was kind of the highlight of operations,” Molloy said. At the<br />
Victory’s 10-knot pace, the trip took 40 hours.<br />
O’Meara, who is serving in his second tenure as commander at<br />
Yaquina Bay, said, “The Victory is like a member of the crew,<br />
and every single person that’s been stationed here is proud that<br />
they’ve served on the Victory. Losing her is like losing a member<br />
of the crew. She was also built in the Eisenhower era, and it’s<br />
time for us to let her rest. She’s done her job.”<br />
Because of the boat’s age, the <strong>Coast</strong> Guard must have parts<br />
manufactured to conduct repairs, which means extended periods<br />
out of service when something breaks down. “She’s been in and<br />
out of service for a while now. When I was here the last time,<br />
out of the three years I was here, she was broken for almost a<br />
year total while we were trying to find and make parts,” O’Meara<br />
said. “So we’re running into trouble trying to keep our crews<br />
proficient on an aging asset that is difficult to keep running.<br />
When it’s broken, it’s down, we can’t train. And in 25-foot surf,<br />
you have to be at the top of your game.”<br />
32
33
JELL-O PRETZEL SALAD<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 box of raspberry Jell-O (mix 1.5 cups hot water with .5 cup<br />
cold water)<br />
1 can crushed Dole pineapple<br />
1 bag of frozen raspberries,<br />
1.5 containers of Cool Whip<br />
1.5 boxes of Philadelphia Cream cheese<br />
1/3 cup sugar<br />
1.5 cups pretzels rolled finely<br />
1 cube melted butter<br />
9 x 13 casserole dish<br />
Directions:<br />
Put butter on bottom of the dish and pour the pretzels on top;<br />
press down. Bake 10-12 minutes on 350 until golden brown.<br />
Cool completely.<br />
Whip the cream and Cool Whip with the sugar until smooth.<br />
Set in the refrigerator for 15 minutes; watch that it doesn’t set up<br />
completely — it still needs to be slightly liquid. Let it start setting<br />
up slightly in the fridge while mixing the cream. (Start the Jell-O<br />
ahead of time at the same time you spread the cream on the<br />
pretzels).<br />
This is definitely a recipe to try — one of our family favorites.<br />
Almost 21 years ago, my sister-in-law, Natalie Lindquist, brought<br />
Jell-O Pretzel Salad over for dinner. The name of the dish made<br />
me suspicious at first, and I almost did not try it. I am so glad<br />
that I did!<br />
Since then, it has become a staple for celebration dinners and<br />
a fun dish to introduce to friends and family. I have passed on<br />
this dish to my daughters, who are continuing the tradition of<br />
sharing this strange, yet delicious recipe. It is one of my most<br />
requested desserts.<br />
Once the cream is ready and the pretzels are cooled, dollop the<br />
cream onto the pretzels very carefully with 6-8 spoonfuls all over<br />
the top. Use a knife to gently seal the entire top of the pretzels<br />
and make sure there are no gaps around the edges. Return to the<br />
refrigerator and set up 15 minutes.<br />
Pour the can of pineapple into the Jell-O. Pour gently over the<br />
top of the cream without making holes in the cream. Move the<br />
liquid around evenly while pouring it. Once that’s complete,<br />
arrange the raspberries all over the top in the Jell-O and return<br />
to the refrigerator to set up completely for at least 1-2 hours. Cut<br />
in squares and serve.<br />
WRITTEN BY: CELESTE MCENTEE | PHOTO BY JEREMY BURKE
TISH EPPERSON<br />
Crow’s Nest Studio & Gallery<br />
toledo, oregon
THE KITCHEN WILD<br />
Fried Cockle Clams with Spicy Cocktail Sauce<br />
It has been quite a while since my family<br />
and I waded out waist deep into the<br />
Alsea Bay to rake for cockle clams. In<br />
fact, the last time we went clamming<br />
was on the cold and gray evening of<br />
Dec. 12, so I haven’t even purchased my<br />
2021 shellfish license yet. But hopefully<br />
with some mild weather and negative<br />
tides in our near future, we can finally<br />
head back out to replenish our freezer<br />
stockpile of clams.<br />
Thankfully, we still have enough in the<br />
freezer for a giant platter of fried cockle<br />
clams for this Sunday because these<br />
are arguably the perfect <strong>Oregon</strong> coast<br />
Super Bowl appetizer. I’ll admit, I know<br />
absolutely nothing about the Super<br />
Bowl, or the NFL in general, but I do<br />
know a thing or two about appetizers.<br />
And these light, crisp clams paired with<br />
Spicy Cocktail Sauce are easily one of<br />
my biggest crowd pleasers.<br />
So whether you’re heading out to a big<br />
Super Bowl party or just enjoying the<br />
game at home, these fried clams might<br />
just make Super Bowl 2021 one to<br />
remember.<br />
Fried Cockle Clams<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 1/2 cups flour<br />
1/2 teaspoon baking powder<br />
1/2 teaspoon baking soda<br />
1/2 teaspoon Johnny’s seasoning salt<br />
1 egg<br />
1 cup milk<br />
Coarse sea salt<br />
Directions:<br />
In one large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups<br />
flour, baking powder, baking soda,<br />
Johnny’s seasoning salt. Whisk to fully<br />
combine the ingredients.<br />
In separate bowl, whisk together milk<br />
and egg.<br />
Dredge clams on both sides with the<br />
flour mixture, then to the egg mixture<br />
on both sides, and again into the flour<br />
mixture. For this step, I press the flour<br />
mixture down onto the clams to ensure<br />
they’re dredged fully. Gently shake off<br />
excess flour.<br />
Fry to a golden brown, sprinkle with<br />
coarse sea salt, enjoy!<br />
Spicy Cocktail Sauce<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 cup ketchup<br />
2 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish<br />
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce<br />
Directions:<br />
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.<br />
Enjoy!<br />
PHOTOS AND STORY BY KATIE WILEY
MICHAEL WALISER’S FAMOUS DUNGENESS CRAB CAKES<br />
Ingredients<br />
Binding Sauce:<br />
2 cups mayonnaise<br />
1 cup fresh parsley leaves<br />
2 tablespoons lemon juice<br />
1 tablespoon capers<br />
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard<br />
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish<br />
2 green onions, diced<br />
Shrimp Puree:<br />
12 ounces small white prawns, peeled and deveined<br />
Salt and freshly ground pepper<br />
Crab Cakes:<br />
1 1/2 pounds fresh picked Dungeness crab meat<br />
1 3/4 cups panko breadcrumbs<br />
1 1/2 cups shrimp puree binding sauce<br />
3 eggs, beaten<br />
1/2 cup flour<br />
3 ounces clarified butter<br />
Directions<br />
1. For the binding sauce: In a food processor, combine the<br />
mayonnaise, parsley leaves, lemon juice, capers, Dijon mustard,<br />
sweet pickle relish and green onions. Mix for about 1 minute.<br />
2. For the shrimp puree: In the clean bowl of the food<br />
processor, puree the prawns until smooth. Sprinkle with salt<br />
and pepper. In a mixing bowl, combine the shrimp puree with<br />
half the binding sauce. Mix well.<br />
3. For the crab cakes: Fold all of the crab into the shrimp puree<br />
mixture. Mix in 3/4 cup panko. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.<br />
4. In 3 separate bowls, place the beaten eggs, flour and<br />
remaining 1 cup panko. Divide the crab cake mixture into 6<br />
balls. Form each ball into a cake that is approximately 1-inch<br />
thick, using a dry measuring cup as an aid. One at a time, dip<br />
each cake first into the flour, then the egg and then the panko.<br />
You may need a little more panko to get them well coated.<br />
5. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.<br />
6. In a large, ovenproof skillet, heat the butter over mediumhigh<br />
heat and brown the crab cakes evenly on both sides, 3 to<br />
4 minutes per side. If the heat is too hot, adjust it down a little.<br />
Transfer the crab cakes to the oven and bake to cook through,<br />
about 10 minutes. Turn over as needed so the crab cakes do<br />
not brown too much on one side.<br />
Serve the hot crab cakes with the sun-dried tomato remoulade.<br />
7. This recipe was provided by a chef, restaurant or culinary<br />
professional. It has not been tested for home use.<br />
Recipe courtesy Michael Waliser, owner Saffron Salmon.<br />
Michael Waliser and Celeste McEntee<br />
PHOTOS BY: JEREMY BURKE<br />
39
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ANIMAL OF THE MONTH<br />
Giant Pacific Octopus<br />
Meet the giant Pacific octopus, also known<br />
as the enteroctopus dofleini or GPO<br />
for short. Before we go any further,<br />
let’s set the record straight: despite<br />
what you may have been told, the<br />
proper plural form of octopus<br />
is octopuses or octopodes.<br />
However, if you call a group of<br />
octopuses “octopi,” we don’t<br />
think they’ll mind it much.<br />
These captivating cephalopods<br />
have brightly colored, wrinkly<br />
skin, bulbous eyes and eight<br />
stunning, sucker covered<br />
tentacles. All of that is par<br />
for the course with many<br />
octopuses, but the largest<br />
GPO gets the “G” in its name<br />
from their enormous size — the<br />
largest caught GPO recorded was 600<br />
pounds.<br />
As for the “P,” that comes from their habitat.<br />
These creatures of the deep can be found around rocky<br />
shores and tide pools along the western coast of North<br />
America, from Alaska to southern California. They<br />
creep along the ocean floor looking for their<br />
next meal of crab, scallops, clams or other<br />
crustaceans.<br />
And while they look tough, these<br />
octopuses actually have soft and flexible bodies,<br />
which allow them to slide through extremely narrow<br />
spaces. They can pack a punch however, using a venomous<br />
parrot-like beak and the ability to eject ink into the water to<br />
blind other animals. Perhaps more effective than those tools,<br />
however, is how smart these cephalopods can be. Recent studies<br />
have shown that they have the ability to use simple tools,<br />
identify individuals, navigate mazes and access both long- and<br />
short-term memories.<br />
For hours and more information visit Aquarium.org<br />
PHOTO BY: JEREMY BURKE
Please leave me be
WRITTEN BY MICHAEL HEINBACH | PHOTOS BY: JEREMY BURKE<br />
photo by Jeremy Burke
Give molting seal a wide berth<br />
ast week, a young northern elephant seal showed<br />
up at South Beach and took up transient residence<br />
in the pathway to the ocean from the South Jetty<br />
parking lot.<br />
The pinnipeds are not unheard of on Lincoln County shores,<br />
but they’re a much less common sight than their cousins,<br />
harbor seals and sea lions. Elephant seals live most of their<br />
lives in deeper waters offshore — they are extraordinary divers<br />
— and they are more often seen near shore in areas where they<br />
breed and birth in Mexico and California. But they also haul<br />
out year round at Cape Arago near Coos Bay.<br />
The South Beach visitor that was first spotted on Thursday has<br />
relocated by dozens of yards several times since then.<br />
The animal doesn’t seem to be having a good time. Passersby<br />
encounter it mostly motionless in the sand, except for when it<br />
raises its head for a guttural moan in protest of being disturbed,<br />
and large patches of hair are missing all over its body.<br />
Jim Rice, stranding coordinator for the Marine Mammal<br />
Institute at <strong>Oregon</strong> State University’s Hatfield Marine Science<br />
Center in Newport, said it’s normal behavior for what the seal<br />
is currently going through — catastrophic molting.<br />
Unlike most mammals, including other pinnipeds, Elephant<br />
seals shed their fur and skin all at once annually during a oneto<br />
two-week period.<br />
“To accommodate the molt, they come out of the water, they<br />
stop eating, and they basically look miserable for the duration<br />
of the molting process,” Rice said. “But once they’re done<br />
with it, they have a new coat of fur and new skin, and they<br />
look a whole lot healthier. But it is a stressful period they go<br />
through.”<br />
And while the seal has chosen an inconvenient spot, Rice said<br />
it’s important for the public to avoid disturbing it, and not<br />
allow their pets to do so, either.<br />
“It’s ironic, he or she — I haven’t had the chance to determine<br />
the animal’s sex — really doesn’t want to be close to people.<br />
Unfortunately, these animals don’t have a very good sense of<br />
distancing. They come to shore where they feel like it,” Rice<br />
said.<br />
Signs have been placed along the path on the approach to the<br />
WRITTEN BY KENNETH LIPP | PHOTOS BY: JEREMY BURKE
seal’s location warning of its presence and the need to respect<br />
its privacy (“Keep at least 50 yards away,” the signs read.) The<br />
Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits harassment of<br />
elephant seals, which the law defines as “acts that have the<br />
potential to disturb a marine mammal or marine mammal<br />
stock in the wild.” More importantly, Rice said, the South<br />
Beach visitor is vulnerable to stress during an already stressful<br />
period.<br />
“They don’t have a great means of defense. They can’t flee<br />
very easily. They will growl. This animal is quite alert and vocal<br />
and does not like to be approached,” Rice said. “We definitely<br />
want to minimize the amount of approaches that people have<br />
to seals and sea lions, and elephant seals are no exception. The<br />
molting process is a stressful period, and if they’re constantly<br />
having to be vigilant for potential threats, that’s going to<br />
increase their stress level and suppress their immune systems<br />
to some degree, and it may make them more susceptible to<br />
infections or complications of the molt itself.”<br />
There’s also a risk of violent encounters between the seal and<br />
pets — dog walkers in the area should be especially advised to<br />
keep their animals on leash. “We’ve had dogs bite seals and<br />
cause injuries, and seals can bite dogs and cause them injuries<br />
and potentially spread diseases to them,” Rice said. “There’s a<br />
risk of injury and infection when you’re encountering a wild<br />
animal of any kind.”<br />
Rice said he’s hopeful the seal will return to the water soon<br />
— on Tuesday, it had moved several yards closer to the ocean<br />
after days of incremental inland progress. He said it appears<br />
to be a juvenile.<br />
Northern elephant seals have a sandy brown colored coat with<br />
no spots, differentiating them from harbor seals. Males can<br />
grow to 12 feet in length and weigh over 4,000 pounds, while<br />
females are smaller, approximately 9 feet long and about 900<br />
pounds full grown. They range along the Pacific coast from<br />
Mexico to Canada.
Photo taken of Whale Cover in Depoe Bay, <strong>Oregon</strong> by Jeremy Burke
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