A woman from Crawford County has agreed to plead guilty to a single felony count of Second-degree Burglary, in connection with a double homicide last month near Deloit, Iowa. The Omaha World-Herald says in her plea agreement, 36-year old Erika M. Dains, of Denison, also plead guilty Thursday in Crawford County District Court, to being an accessory after the fact. Dains had originally been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson in connection with the March 10th murders of Marvin Huelsing and Alice Huisenga on Huelsing’s property southeast of Deloit. Her two co-defendants, 19-year old Jayden Ray Chapman and 26-year old Michael David Schenk, both of Denison, have pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges.

According to court records, Chapman told law enforcement officials that he, Schenk and Dains had gone to the farmstead to steal scrap metal. According to a complaint and affidavit filed earlier in Crawford County District Court, Chapman said he and Schenk shot Huelsing and Huisenga and then set fire to a trailer with the victims inside. As part of the plea agreement, Dains agreed to testify for the prosecution at her co-defendants’ trials.

The original charges against Dains were dropped without prejudice, which means the prosecution can refile the charges if Dains violates the terms of the plea agreement. All three have been held in the Crawford County Jail in Denison on $500,000 cash-­only bail since their arrest March 13th. Thursday’s plea agreement stipulated that Dains’ bail continue as previously set.

In pleading guilty, Dains agreed to prison terms of 10 years on the burglary charge and two years on the accessory charge. A determination will be made at sentencing whether Dains must serve the terms one after the other, for a total of 12 years, or at the same time, for a total of 10 years. Sentencing for Dains will not occur until after the cases against Schenk and Chapman are concluded.

Officials with the Iowa West Foundation, headquartered in Council Bluffs, have announced $4.2 million in grants are being awarded for the first quarter of 2014. The grants will be used to assist 22 nonprofit organizations and governmental entities with funding for area projects.

The largest grant awarded in the quarter was to the Green Hills Area Education Agency for preschool programs in school districts located in Pottawattamie County. The $1.1 million grant ensures that 4-year-olds with the most at-risk factors for possible school failure will have the opportunity to participate in quality early childhood education.

Here is a partial list of the grant recipients:

·        The City of Council Bluffs – $850,000 for planning and improvements to the landing area of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge near Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park.

·        Bluffs Arts Council, $6,000 for music and movies in Bayliss and River’s Edge parks.

·        Crossroads of Western Iowa, $2,000 for a volunteer program for intellectually disabled.

·        Hospice of Southwest Iowa, $2,500 for medical records documentation upgrade.

·        Make-A-Wish Foundation of Iowa, $20,000 to fulfilling the wishes of southwest Iowa children.

·        Mills County Fair Association Free Fair, $150,000 for a community building at fairgrounds in Mills County.

·        Mills County Prevent Child Abuse Council Inc., “Circles4Support” program, $7,500

·        Planned Parenthood of the Heartland Inc., $50,000 for prevention education in on STIs and teen pregnancy in Douglas, Montgomery and Pottawattamie counties.

Funding for the foundation’s grants comes from investment earnings and the Iowa West Racing Association, which receives contracted license fees from casino operators, Ameristar and Harrah’s. IWRA distributes funds to the Iowa West Foundation, an independent 501(c)(3) organization under the IRS Code. The foundation makes grants throughout southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska.

Requests for Iowa West grant applications for the third quarter of 2014 will begin June 1, 2014, and will be accepted through July 1, 2014. Completed applications will be due July 15, 2014. The deadline to request applications for the second quarter has passed.

For more information including deadlines, interested organizations may visit the foundation’s website at iowawestfoundation.org or contact Deb Debbaut, director of grants administration, at (712) 309-3003. Guidelines and procedures can be viewed on the website, and applicants can apply online.

Students with the Guthrie Center High School Speech Teams will perform during the Tiger Speech Showcase this evening at 7 o’clock in the Guthrie Center High School Auditorium.  The cost of admission is your free-will donation. School officials say the large group and individual events team members will perform the speeches that have earned them success this year.

The Choral Reading group will perform “Legendary”, written and directed by Mrs. Kelsey Little. There will also be one Group Improvisation team to entertain the audience. Individual Events speakers will include Maria Ahrens in All-State-nominated Poetry, as well as Acting, McKenzie Hawkins in Storytelling, Neta Boyer in Original Oratory, Whitney Bates with Literary Program.

Other Individual performers include Morgan Woolman in Solo Musical Theatre, Matthew Vannatta in Prose, Cassidy Simmons in Expository Address, Samuel Vannatta in Prose, Ross Rumelhart in Improv, and Anita Alvarez in Literary Program.

Several of the district’s Individual Events speakers recently earned a trip to State.