Launched in 2014 by village resident Jonathan Platt, Story Chain’s mission is to give inmates in area correctional facilities the opportunity to read children’s books aloud to their own kids — albeit from some distance, and from behind bars.

The band’s name holds special significance, connecting its trio of members — Tamir Hargana, Naizal Hargana and Brent Roman — to their music’s roots in Mongolian culture, for which horses are central figures in history, mythology and, naturally, its folk music.

This month, a new documentary — helmed by and starring School Foresters themselves — debuts, giving local residents a behind-the-scenes look at the School Forest Club’s work tending the forest from seedling to tree, and every stage in between.

Ultimately — with a 2–1 vote — the three-member board approved a resolution to set aside $127,419 from its general fund to be used “for the exclusive purpose to fund [the trustees’] commitment to partner with the Tecumseh Land Trust to acquire conservation easements on all or part of the township parcels referred to as the [Welch] Farm.’”

During an often fraught two-hour special meeting Tuesday, April 29 — which was attended by about two dozen local residents — the Miami Township Trustees discussed at length both the possibility and the fiscal feasibility of funding conservation easements for local farmland preservation nonprofit Tecumseh Land Trust.

If passed, Issue 2 would amend the Ohio Constitution to allow the state to issue bonds or other obligations to finance or assist in public infrastructure projects at the local level — including here in Yellow Springs.