xt77wm13nn6z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt77wm13nn6z/data/mets.xml University of Kentucky. Libraries Lexington, Kentucky University of Kentucky Alumni Association 1995 journals  English University of Kentucky Alumni Association Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Kentucky alumnus Kentucky Alumnus, vol. 65, no. 4, 1995 text images Kentucky Alumnus, vol. 65, no. 4, 1995 1995 2012 true xt77wm13nn6z section xt77wm13nn6z   V V V V   V$                = ‘       `V V ·    » ·
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Why turn to anyone else.
All University of Kentucky HealthCare patients have
something in common: peace of mind. Perhaps
because they know the UK Hospital is ranked as one
of the tcp 100 hospitals in America—and the only one
in Kentucky— as reported in /l//odern Hea/thcare®. l
Or maybe it's because our dedicated staff includes 17
doctors considered the best nationally in their fields
by The Best Doctors in Amer/ca. Then again, maybe
they take comfort in knowing our doctors practice .
what they teach. After all, U.S. News & Wor/d Beport® ‘
ranks the UK College of Medicine among the top three
T in the nation for primary care in the annual ranking of
"America's Best Graduate Schools/’ To find a UK
physician for your family, call 606-257-1000.  HEa|thC8rG

 KE NTU  
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COVER: Architecture 1995-96 OFFICERS
graduate Walter C. I   res
Reuscli ’83 crafted this PRESIDENT
model of Memorial William T. _""_ ""`r N I W"' HTWXWVTYKYXWWTTKTTY
Hall for the Associa- UZ¤1¤’62 A Pocketful of Poetry Readings withjane Gentry and 8
tion's Holiday Tree. Birmingham, Ala. ffw 1
Ornaments represent- JC Or Cy'
ing alumni clubs, col- PRESIDENT-ELECT
;jg{j;l¤;g£;m€*¤*V¤S *u*jSi*;_$fC¤mPS¤¤ 71 Another Brunch of Leurning Community eoiieges offer a 12
l variety of aft forms for local patrons to enjoy.
Vol. 65 No. 4 ISNO732- TREASURER
6297. The Kentucky David Shelton ’66 . . . .
Alumuus is Published Maucuu, Gu Drugs ¤nCl OUT Klds Finding a way to tag those most likely `l6
quarterly by the [0 say “Y€$,”
University of Kentucky SECRETARY
Alumni Association, Bob C. Whitaker `58 _ _ _
Lexington, Kentucky, Frankfort   L     Rx for Tnaglc.  
for its dues-paying
b . O ' ' ASSOCIATION STAFF . . . , .
  u1.E1;;C;I:CC_ Proflle — Jlm Corbln Your dog s other best friend. 23
essarily those of the DIRECTOR
University of Kentucky, Bob C. Whitaker `58
or the UKAlumni   - —-- -- »»-- -   » - ---
Association. EDITOR
Liz Howard `6B Departments
. POSTMASTER: _ __ __v__________ __,_, __7_____r__,_, , _, ,_____ _____ _ ,,,, ,   _ W .,..,_n?_.w.,..,. . . . .. t .
Forwarding and ASST. EDITOR
i address COITECUOU KayJ°lms°n 86 UK Béclfjefferson Community College welcomes new president. 2
I requested. Send to The
I Kentucky Alumnus, OUTREACH/CLUBS
  gSKAl“’}“" Sm KFY ,72 Sports Notebook Featuring the courage of Harold Dennis. 4
SOCIQIUOH,
l Lexington, Kentucky SPECIAL PROGRAMS
40500 ;$Oi>RDU;luATOl; 93 Cl¤ss Notes Class-by-class update. 24
[Cp `IHIIIC O\’€m Cl` ’
PRINTING _ _
Host Mrmmaizsnir Foxlme Focus Philanthropy — What do you do? 35
Communications, Inc. MARKETING MGR.
P McClintock- , . . _ ,
l ADVERTISING P;§%y’68 Presidential Postscript President Charles T. Wethingtonjr. 36
FOI advwisins i¤*"0¤`· discusses the importance of supporting higher education.
mation, contact Laura STAFF
Mize at (606) 226- Brenda Bain
4330, Tim Francis at julia Brothers
(606) 226-4332 or Linda Brtunlield
Tony Gray at (606) Margie Carby
2264227. Ruby Hardin
  john Hoagland '89
` Charles Lixingston
— Karise Mace
Stacy Merideth
Carolyn Rhorer
_   . '//   ' J, i·1i I ‘  

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• l 2 jim   · .
New President for JCC , Q   ~ C _ ( JM ,
C C CC C   C CCCC C   CCCC C—~ l i  [   _.%CC, .,     .»e s t
. . . l ,   .»f"¤£‘,v ,,  ‘”   C .
Richard Green, a native of Louisville     fg;       £_;        
and former director of corporate           ;`’i ’“
human resources at Honeywell Inc., in   A            
Minneapolis, Minn., assumed the   ,_ , L         __
presidency ofjefferson Community ,     pe    _ _ ‘»
College in August.  Z 4 * { //,, (jj,    4  
. .-   He suc-         `
,   , * ~ .. meds R0¤¤1d l     CC    ·=»=* 1 3 C·
  *   Citi Z H°m‘h· Wh° 1 Y   2 i`     i    
  . 4       retired after '     .   :C_   l
    Z       years Of scr [_ ·   W ,,,, -            
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  . , 1 ..;‘ ‘-s=y 4 ’     `,’’‘  
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r responsibili-   gil  
ties at Honey- l       Ciiiiv ~ _;,
well 1nClud€Cl   V     UK transplant surgeon
{hg dgvglgp- ,   ~   Dinesh Ranian, right,
m€n t an d   ~   1 led the surgical team
  _ Tr that performed the first
implementation of [116 COITlp2:ll1ylS 1   ..., ..   ·’v___V H adult liver transplant at
Corporate Youth Apprenticeship, 1 . (     UK H°5P1*¤l °¤ JUIY ll:
- - ·   it   LV, 1995. The patient, a 32-
Eclucation to Employment Transition V. ,,,           ( -,»_; yeupold Lexingbn man
and Work and Family Programs. He   ye    who wishes to remain
. .     ·~.,       ets     
also was responsible for an on-site   X   ==C‘   · ¤F;¤¤Y¤:|°f¤5·W3;
high school and day care center locat-     °‘       1: :05:;,; i:?;P*ember_
ed in the Honeywell Offices for some   ,.  ’   `:Cl A _,__i     ‘"*’ Y Mqrcaq wisehqmu 61.
60 teenage mothers and their babies.  1  y       `T Yj¤"‘°ld Wl?m¤¤ f"°"•"
He took leave from Honeywell in   · .— E   , , E m°m°n ecilme UK S
U I · , rf C`   `,_ · ~  y,. ., V .. second ¤dUl|' llver 1'r¤ns-
1993 to serve as interim resident of l   ___,,,..,.     ,,.,     C , _ , lant atient on Se t.
P l ~--- *   r/ ~   ··   P P P
Metropolitan State University in St.     ,,   l2· l995·
Paul, where he balanced the fiscal l for fund raisin , a total of 51537 mil- for exhibition at the center on Rose
1 g
year budget and made organizational   lion in the 1994-95 fiscal year. The Street. The art includes oil paintings,
chan res to better serve the diverse stu- record amount, the lar est since the fiber works, abstractions and a com-
fw g
dent population at the university. He university began its development pro- missioned mural by Maysville artist
also taught a “l.eadership and Ethics" gram in the mid-1960s, is 5155.4 million Bill Brown.
class in the co11ege’s MBA program. more than the 1993-94 total, an
Prior tojoining Honeywell in 1984, increase of 17 percent. The number TTTTT TT TT Ti`' T _
Creen served as vice president for aca- of donors also increased by 24 percent BET" COI'I‘IbS SCh°|¤I`ShIP
demic allairs and dean of the college to a record 40,413. More than half   1
at Au rshurr Colle re in Minnea olis were alumni, re resentin a 41 er- . , ,,   S, »»..   A UK Col-
fw ls fs P P S P   H A   ,,,,g    
(1980-1984); dean of the College of cent increase in the number ofalumni 9, _    ,,_`C _ t,'. lege of Law  
Arts and Sciences at Capital University donors from last year. N ,z_£;       scholarship 1
in Columbus. Ohio (1976-1980), and         p r 0 g r a m
was assistant professor of cheniistiy at TTTT ~         named in li
Concordia (.o1lege in Moorhead, FOI' the Sake of Ar"   " ‘ p   C   - 41  ,_»   honor of the It
1v1ami.(1s>  ·_»`_3"¤‘   iv I; · w. · ·•·~•••q•¢•»···» ei-··>·   _ ·
  —·i·‘ »   ····s   i··t V   ....       .....: = _--- i =.-     * I gram will be b€t[€1` Cqtllppiid {OT
. `,_  § { Q   X ,__ , ’ W   _ _   k   Vi ''``   .  — I   future health care changes."
  g. E, S »  .i; .&,..,, gi.; i I.   _ {   I 1     T gg ogg, g g
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...   .  K      ji _ »;   *      »..  .  by __     Agam and Again
A .  TTM;  A  *·ii—i A `:‘,       q A team of UK engineering students,
~*‘    _ ,     ` members of UK’s chapter of the Soci-
     _ __     r ety of Women Engineers, has won a
J,   _ p, Y  p.. .     T / national championship for the second
~ \ 1   no [   ..   ii li    .—  time in three years.
[   ` A ,2} _ p 1 ;_‘.,     ( »   The lO—member team devised a way
‘  _ ‘ · / p   ( , V to automate a process to test locks
` _ _ ~ ‘  H »’   ’ -, manufactured at the Sargent &
li " I _   V ’ i` _,   Greenleaf plant in Nicholasville. The
. ‘   y_VV;/_    T Q company has implemented the cost-
ji -·._ -   saving process devised by the UK stu-
1     ‘  p dents for the Team Tech com-
’ ‘’""` LM Y petition. The leader of the winning
1 *" _ _ _ UK team was Angela Shelley of
l UK Chandler Medical Center Chancellor James W. Holsmger (left) and Michael Harrison, Willi, m b I_ ' . n.( r m' . I_.n r in
director of Wolverhampton University in England, signed an agreement to expand a   S u g’ d -1 ll I ) Q10 I B
5 student exchange program between the two schools. Cl1€mlC21l €UglI1€€T1Ug.
{ Winter 1995 Kentucky Alumnus 3
l
l

 "“""j"i'_ 1
’ I • Padgett squeezed out her window Contemporary society teems with R
      to safety, but her seatmates perished, tales of capitulation to despair. l
along with two other adults and 23 Cobain, Kevorkian, Crips and Bloods
children. — consumed by inner anguish or
By Mark Coomes The moment that ended in death transformed by desperation borne of y
for 27 people has come to define the circumstances beyond their control. ’
Behold, the bush burned with fire, and lives of the 40 survivors — none more The cards and letters Harold rou-
the bush was not consumed. — Exodus so than Harold Dennis, a University of_ tinely receives tell him that people
3:2 Kentucky football player who was long to hear a different story. This is
among the most critically injured. how a third-string wide receiver comes
On the night of May 14, 1988, a Harold, barely 14 then andjust to command more attention than his
school bus packed with sleeping chil- beginning the ninth grade, suffered team’s brightest star.
dren was driving south on Interstate third-degree burns to his face, neck, He is asked to speak to groups
71 to the First Assembly of Cod left shoulder and arm. He still bears from coast to coast and has been pro-
church in Radcliff, Ky., 90 miles away. the unsightly, swirling scars. filed by CBS, ESPN, People magazine  
Thirty-five girls, 28 boys and four But he knows he is lucky to be alive. and Sports Illustrated. Much to his sur- I  
adults were returning from a day at Seven of the 14 kids sitting around prise, he has become a quiet spokes-   g
Kings Island amusement park near him were killed, including his seat- man for hope in a world awash in   é;
Cincinnati. They were members and mate and best friend, Anthony "Andy" hopelessness. E
guests of the youth group LIFE, and Marks. People want to see and hear how a I E
before departing, group leader Chuck Harold isn’t sure what happened to fellow human can derive powerful y
Kytta said a small prayer: Andy. All he knows is that their win- nourishment from the bread of adver- i
"Please grant us a safe trip. May dow wouldn’t open. With swollen eyes, sity and the waters of affliction. They
God have His hand on this bus." Harold fought through the smoke and will find that Harold differs in a very
The driver, john Pearman, had a fire to find the rear exit, six crowded important way from most of the lost
_ bad feeling about the trip. He tried and chaotic rows away. souls who succumb to their pain.
hard to find another driver but just three rows forward was Pad- “I’ve thought about it, and the only
couldn’t. He boarded that morning gett’s open window. Until last May, explanation is God,” he said. “Other
with an ax and an extra fire extin- Harold never knew. than God and having faith in Him that
guisher. i "That makes me mad," he said. He knows what He’s doing, there’s I
lt was cool that night, but janie “That bothers me, yeah. To think that really no correct answer to it."
Padgett, a chaperone, needed some there was a window open. Ifl had Harold had faith before the crash,
air. It took four people to open the turned and looked, my whole life but he says it has grown stronger
window next to the bench seat she would have been different." since. It has been bolstered by the
shared with an adult friend and a 13- earthly blessings of a strong family,
year-old girl. And ajier the earthquake ajire; but the loving friends, financial security, a  
The bus was filled to capacity with Lord was not in the fire: and ajler the fire sound mind and an athletic body. }
young teens, and the close quarters i astill small voice. —IKings 19:12 Seven years have passed since the
made Padgett a little nervous: “I kept Carrollton bus crash. After so much
saying to myself, `What if  ” The tragedy of May 14, 1988, is writ- time and with so many resources to I
At 10:55 p.1n., near the Northern ten all over Harold Dennis’ face, but draw from, Harold was asked if the ,
Kentucky town of Carrollton, Pearman not in his heart. It never crossed his wounds have finally healed. i
spotted a pickup truck barreling north mind to surrender to despair — not He answered after a long pause.  
in his southbound lane. The ear-split- even that first night, when he thought “I’m still not over it. I mean, it’s .
ting sound of skidding tires and he was going to die. gotten a lot better. I don’t think about I
crunching metal announced the worst “I used to wonder a lot — I still won- it as much as I used to, but I’m never
school bus disaster in U.S. history. der a lot — why me?" he said. "W`hy do going to forget it or stop thinking i
The truck, driven by a drunk, I have to look like this? Why did I have about it. I think of my friends, what ll
smashed head-on into the right front to go through all this pain? Back then I they might be doing now."
corner of the bus, tearing a three-inch would have rather been in any other
gash in the 60-gallon gasoline tank. l situation, but right now I don’t mind. I I have chosen thee in the furnace of
Within seconds, the bus filled with y think it was good experience (for me). ajfliction. —lsaiah 48:10 I
black smoke and oily flames. I It still is a good experience."
4 Kentucky Alumnus Wimgr ]QQ5
i.
t

 l
I  
V
I   I, .      V They made it out with mostly minor
I   A i injuries. Harold’s older sister, Kim,
I ’ V.   E was sitting in the fifth row back and
  ~       Y. I suffered lung damage and minor
I V       A , _ VV g burns to her ear and hand.
V ‘   I   ` _g_ -   . With his eyelids seared to a puffy
I " " W w V    ’V  V close, Harold groped his way to the
      VVV ; rear exit, passing two grade-school
[   I .   friends who were frozen with fear and
if y ®   tiVV   ’ K locked in a last embrace. He made it
" -     '___V V I *   ”»i°i 2   — to the last row and apparently passed
’ ’,`  {   " ` out. If it weren’t for one of the good
l iw,  IV`;   #   I 3 W . VV  V.   I ~ ` · Samaritans who had pulled over to
l is   we     VV   ,V  I   V •` help, he might have died.
I ., %»     ........     . I 0     Q "Th€ suv Said hs Saw bodies mid
Ig;   I I   V     *,*1 _ . V arms, and for some reason 1ny arms
E f y i  ”’es   V      i VV V .     » V     _i ` stood out," Harold said. "There was
. E   V        . VV    ° no response on the hrst pull. He Silld
_g  VV     r V V   i      , _ ` l he wasn t going to give up, so he
€ .     ..     ’ ‘> g pulled again as hard as he could, and I
UK football coach Bill Curry has given Harold Dennis the opportunity to fell out.”
compete for playing time just as he has all his players. His shoulder and neck were burned
so raw that the blades of grass beneath
Larry Mahoney, a 34-year-old chem- The ruptured fuel tank began hem- his head felt like hypodermic needles.
ical worker from Owen County, orrhaging gasoline. It ignited "not like Fearing he would soon go into shock,
stepped into his four-wheel-drive Toy- a bomb," Harold recalled, but in a i someone slapped a blanket over him.
ota pickup with an open six-pack of roaring whoosh akin to the combus- { "I was like, ‘Get that off me! I’m
Miller Lite. He had drunk enough tion of lighter fluid on a grill. He I hot! I’m sitting here burning, and
already. reached over Andy Marks and made a you’re putting a blanket on me!"’
C Blood tests eventually would reveal futile attempt to open the window. Harold recalled.   The next thing I
a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent, Because his face, shoulder and arm remember, Iwas in the hospital."
more than twice the level at which a were burned, and not much else, doc- Twenty-seven of his friends never
person is presumed to be legally intox- tors guessed he made a disoriented made it that far. The bus was old and
icated. About two hours before those dash for the front door, where the fire had no steel cage around the gas tank,
tests were taken, Mahoney drove up raged the hottest, then doubled back , and its seats were made of a type of
an exit ramp and headed the wrong toward the rear exit.   foam rubber that emits highly toxic
way on I-71. "I really have no idea," Harold said.   hydrogen cyanide gas when burned.
. Like most of his friends, Harold was “I don’t actually remember even being The coroner ruled that all 27 died
sleeping when Mahoney’s truck on fire. It was like I blacked out and of smoke inhalation, which provides
crashed into their school bus. His the next thing I remember, I’m off Harold with some small solace, "I
head shot forward into the seat ahead the bus." V think it would be better to die of a col-
of him, which is why his memory of According to other survivors, the ` orless, odorless fume than be burned
T the ensuing events remains fuzzy. bus was engulfed in smoke, flames and to death,” he said.
` However, his recollection squares with a cacophony of noises — screaming, Among the dead were john Pear-
stories told by other survivors. crackling, scrambling sounds. Hair man, the bus driver, and Chuck Kytta,
V. "The bus didn’t explode right spray cans and helium balloons the group leader. The survivors were
if then," he said. "I kind of remember a   exploded from the intense heat. evacuated to several hospitals in the
i lot of commotion and screaming and i Plumes of fire nearly IO feet high shot I region. Harold wound up at Kosair
frantic hitting and whatnot. All of a out of the front right side. In the stair- Children’s Hospital in Louisville,
sudden it got quiet. I assume everyone well, flames licked the bus from floor where he spent the next 44 days. The
was thinking, “VVhew! I’m glad that’s to ceiling. doctors thought he probably would
over.’ ” Of the 39 surviving children, 23 live, though his life would never be
V It had onlyjust begun. were sitting in the back four rows. the same.
V
[ Winter 1995 Kentucky Alumnus 5
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"You know how ifyou put a hot dog "All the nurses were told, ‘Don’t let ings I could have. I’ve matured a lot
in the microwave and you don’t put him look at himself. He’s not ready,’ ” since then."
cuts in it, it will swell up and eventual- he said. "But I was thinking to myself, Anger would not consume Harold
ly burst?" Harold asked. "That’s pretty ‘It can’t be that bad.’ So I asked for a any more than the fire had. A more
much how my face was when it mirror, and she gave it to me. persistent threat is our culture’s idol- g
burned." "It really hurt me bad. I cried for a atrous worship of external beauty. w
His mother, Barbara, rushed to long time. Assilly as it may sound, one Hollywood and Madison Avenue \
Louisville. The horror of his new face of the major things I thought about have conspired to concoct an Ameri-
was reflected in her eyes. was girls. I thought, ‘Man! Is this ca in which it is better to look good {
“She just broke down. She said going to be me for the rest of my life? than be good, where people with
when she saw me, she couldn’t even What are people going to think about perfectly good faces pay small for-
tell it was me. She said my face was as me? Are my friends still going to want tunes to make themselves look just a
big as a watermelon." to be friends? Are girls still going to little bit better.
The few clear memories Harold has like me?’ " Harold re-entered this world with a  
of his first nights at Kosair are those His voice trailed off and his shoul- face of mismatched whorls and ridges.
nightmares, real and imagined. In one ders slumped forward. He stared at The scars would be less noticeable if
dream an angry, formless Hre shot out the floor. Recalling all the pain made he had followed doctor’s orders and
at his face. In another he was stuck on him seem unspeakably weary. regularly worn a pressurized mask. l
a ride at Kings Island. “I don’t see how I went through it. I “I hated it; it was like someone rob- {
“They said when I woke up I started don’t see how anybody goes through bing a bank," he said. "People got *
going crazy in the hospital room. I that." used to my face more than they did
tore one of my respirator tubes." the mask. I guess it was the fact that
Grim reality unfolded on the Thy faith hath made thee whole. — they could look at me.”
evening news, which called the roll of Matthew 9:22 Harold had nothing to hide.
Harold’s dead friends: Chad Witt, Another crash victim wore his mask all Q
April Mills, Cynthia Atherton   and, Five days after the crash, about the time, and his behavior deteriorat- §
worst of all, Andy Marks. 5,000 people attended a mass memori- ed during the battle between self-  
"l had an idea already," Harold , al service at the North Hardin High acceptance and self-loathing. Harold Q
said. "You get a feeling, you know. It School football field. The Rev. Gene preferred to deal squarely with the ·§
just dicln’t seem real, like it was a B. Waggonner built his address strange looks and rude questions. His E
dream — or a nightmare. I mean, I around a simple, yet confounding, wit, grace and courage won over
was hurt. It took me a while to get the question: Andrea Matkey, the attractive Univer- V
full impact." “Why do bad things happen to sity of Louisville student who has been
Then there was the physical pain. good people?" his girlfriend for most of the past four
The most excruciating procedure was l A woman in the crowd asked two years.
a cleaning process in which saline- questions of her own: "He can’t help that he was in a bus
soaked gauze was allowed to dry on "Where was God? Why didn’t He accident," she said. "That has nothing
the facial tissue laid bare under the intercede?” to do with him. And I think now he’s
ravaged skin, then was peeled off. Harold has asked himself those very confident about how he looks.”
That was l`ollowed by skin grafts questions long enough to know that They had an intense but unusual j
harvested from his chest, back and there are no wholly satisfactory courtship. Harold was uneasy about
buttocks. Harold will lift his shirt and answers. There is mostly just a silent his appearance early on, and his anxi-
expose the crazy-quilt pattern those void to be filled with trust or blame. ety was exacerbated by a mutual
operations left behind. A piece of one “For some reason, He decided to friend’s erroneous report to him that ,
rib was removed to reconstruct his left take whoever’s life He took, and for Andrea didn’t want to kiss him. Frus-  
ear, which for months remained so other reasons He decided to keep trated by Harold’s reserve, Andrea l
tender that it hurt even to blow on it. everyone else alive,” Harold said. “I finally made the move herself. l
But the most painful event occurred guess He had plans for them.” “He wouldn’t even let me touch his
when Harold saw what the fire had 1 The plan for Harold was to wrestle face for a couple of months," she said. l
done to his smooth, handsome face. { first with some age-old demons. Pride. “We didn’t kiss until nine months of
The left side was entirely gone, as were l Vanity. Envy. Anger. going together. We had already told
both eyebrows. His lips were swollen y "I’d say I was angry toward Larry each other ‘I love you.’ "
like a pair of pink balloons. Mahoney. There’s really no other feel- There were hurdles to be cleared. i
ti Ketttuckv .·\Iumnus Winter lgg5 {
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I   j     ·A—‘=   V=—·    ..   graduation, He   has restored his eligibility. He can-
,   g” ‘*   Z     currently tools i celed an agreement he had made for
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