Mearns FM was set up to try to bring these distant communities together.

Instead, the state instituted a three-day workweek, complete with room and board, to attract people from distant rural communities.

Clubs like Pay it Forward participate in volunteer work and support local and distant communities.

"It must not be forgotten that this distant community is an offshoot of our own system", he said.

Its story telling project reaches out to the local and more distant community.

To him came questions from the most distant communities.

Middle-class flight from older suburbs to more distant communities is accelerating.

It helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities.

But smaller and more distant communities feel the pressures acutely.

He lowered his profile, often driving to more distant communities to run routine errands.