Copies of this and other photographs may be purchased from the News; please contact us via e-mail at ysnews@ysnews.com, or by phone, between 9:30 a.m. and 5: 30 p.m., Mon.–Fri.

Virley Derricott of Yellow Springs died on Thursday, Jan. 21, at 91.

Paul W. Nosker III died on Friday, Jan. 22. He was 52.

Georganna Elizabeth Freeman, a longtime resident of Yellow Springs, died on Monday, Jan. 18 at Friends Care Community. She was 88.

The YSHS boys basketball team tucked another win under its belt last week, overwhelming Miami Valley 62–32 on Friday, Jan. 22. The league win put the Bulldogs up 9–1 for the season and 6–0 in the Metro Buckeye Conference, where they currently stand in first place, one game ahead of Emmanuel Academy.

Before the earthquake, Haiti was a country that struggled to support human life. Haiti was already the poorest country in the Americas by most standards; 80 percent of the people lived in poverty and many of those were malnourished or infected with AIDS or other diseases. And in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, about 400,000 people lived in the squalor of a lowland trash dump besieged with standing water, through which rag-clad children would dig for their daily sustenance.

For at least one Yellow Springs homeowner, the past year has been unforgettable. In the fall of 2008, his mortgage company granted him a three-month forbearance on the monthly payments for his home in the village. Having no steady income due to an ongoing health issue, the homeowner received a second forbearance in early 2009, and then was told in the spring that unless he could begin making his monthly $1,000 mortgage payments, the lender would begin foreclosure proceedings on his house.

For most businesses, 2009 was a year to cut jobs, not to add them. However, the story was more upbeat for YSI Incorporated in Yellow Springs.

“The company did well last year,” CEO Rick Omlor said in an interview last week. “We had a number of things go the right way. We are pleased.”

At its Jan. 19 meeting, Village Council gave initial approval to a water rate increase that will take place over five years, beginning in April 2010, by unanimously passing the first reading of a new ordinance. Council will vote on the final reading for the rate hike at its Feb. 1 meeting.

Copies of this and other photographs may be purchased from the News; please contact us via e-mail at ysnews@ysnews.com, or by phone, between 9:30 a.m. and 5: 30 p.m., Mon.–Fri.