If local diversity can be measured by the number of African Americans who live within the geographical boundaries of Yellow Springs, the village has experienced three decades of decreasing diversity, and is likely wrapping up a fourth. Since 1970, the village has lost about 500 African-American residents, mirroring a larger regional trend.

With a crowd of about 70 people gathered on Monday, March 15, to hear about the fate of the village’s first bark park, Village Council members approved 4–1 a resolution to support a dog park at Ellis Park. Council requested that the group pursuing the dog park should consult the Tree Committee, whose members have spent over 20 years cultivating a scenic park at the Ellis Park location.

Lauren Sheets danced as Scott Lee of Kettering played and sang outside Brother Bear’s.

As a filmmaker who has experienced some success and some challenges, Joanne Caputo has occasionally asked herself the question, “Am I an artist?” It’s perhaps a feeling she shares with her nephew, John Caputo, who is the focus of her latest documentary. As a prisoner for 11 years at the Graterford and Harrisburg penitentiaries in Pennsylvania, John Caputo would say that art in some ways saved him. But in making a life after his release, he wonders if he is truly an artist or simply an ex-con who makes art.

Rickey Dean Godwin Sr. of Yellow Springs, formerly of Troy, died at his home on Thursday, March 4, 2010, surrounded by his family and friends.

Don Thomas McAllister of Yellow Springs died at Kettering Medical Center on Thursday, March 4, with his wife of 55 years, Patty, at his side. He was 78.

The Yellow Springs boys basketball team proved itself a contender outside the confines of the Metro Buckeye league by beating the sixth seed Springfield Catholic Central 55–53 in the Division IV sectional on Wednesday, March 3. And in an upset 40–37 loss to the fifth seeds, Franklin Monroe, on Friday, that’s where the advance stopped.

The recent holiday season was better than the one before for many downtown merchants, and other stores had sales either comparable or slightly down from last year, according to recent interviews with a dozen owners. Most merchants felt satisfied with their sales, given the state of the national economy. However, they had to work hard and be smart to weather the holidays in a recession, and several linked their stability to their own adjusted business practices.

After nearly 30 years under the ownership of one Springfield family, the long building that houses most Kings Yard shops will be sold at auction at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 2, at the Bryan Community Center. The building houses 10 retail spaces, nine of which are currently occupied, and the sale includes an adjoining wooded property to the north behind the post office.

Are there ways for the Village to increase revenues and/or decrease costs? Village Council members considered this subject at a special general fund budget workshop on Saturday, March 6. Contributing to the urgency of the discussion was the projected 2010 drop in the fund’s year-end surplus, which was caused by an increase in contracted services and a large unexpected repair project, according to Village Finance Director Sharon Potter.