Dennis Bloom, Chair of the Montgomery County Community Foundation (MCCF) says 12 nonprofit agencies were recently awarded grants totaling $17,800. Among them was:

• The Red Oak Public Library, which received $1,300 to provide a virtual learning center (computer & software).
• The Stanton Senior Center, $400, for the purchase of a new air conditioner.
• The City of Stanton Public Library, $1,000 for the purchase & implementation of a new automation system.
• Elliott Volunteer Fire Dept., $500 to replace old pagers.
• Montgomery County Family YMCA, $3,000 to upgrade the health/wellness fitness center.
• The Montgomery County History Center, $1,450, to purchase equipment & materials to help research area history & archive it.
• Red Oak Community School District, $3,000, to renovate “Cage” recreation site for use by the general public.
• Stanton Child Resource Center, $1,400, for school preschool & toddler programs, supplies & equipment.
• Stanton Greenbelt, $1,000, to add more handicap-accessible trails for public use.
• The Wilson Performing Arts Center, $2,000 for equipment.
• Villisca Community School District, $2,000, to purchase cameras for use with school interactive whiteboards.
• Villisca Public Library, $750, to provide e-book services & a space for use by young people.

The grant checks were presented to representatives from those nonprofit agencies, last Thursday. The total amount of $17,800 includes $1,000 from the Villisca High School Class of 1977 Endowment Fund, and, $800 from the Stanton Endowment Fund. Over the past 11 years, the Montgomery County Endowment Fund has distributed more than $656,000 to nonprofit agencies in the County.

PONCA, Neb. (AP) – A northeast Nebraska man has pleaded guilty to two counts of motor vehicular homicide and one count of drunken driving in an accident that killed two Wayne State College students near Emerson. Fifty-five-year-old Robert Mahler, of Hubbard, NE,pleaded guilty Monday in Dixon County District Court. Sentencing is Jan. 23rd. Authorities say Mahler was driving drunk on the night of Sept. 9, on the wrong side of Nebraska Highway 9 and hit an oncoming motorcycle. Two people on the motorcycle were killed – 20-year-old Christopher Oberg, of Mapleton, Iowa, and his passenger, 19-year-old Alexis Calfee, of Bennet, Neb. Authorities say Mahler’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. Mahler faces a sentence of one to 50 years in prison on each of the vehicular homicide charges.

One person was killed and another injured during a crash in western Iowa’s Monona County, Monday night. According to the Iowa State Patrol, 29-year old Robert Paris Palmer, of Mapleton died, when the 1969 Oldsmobile 88 he was a passenger in was struck by a truck, in Mapleton.  The driver of the car, 27-year old Lenley Ray Schofield, Jr., of Sioux City, was injured, and transported by Mapleton Rescue to Burgess Hospital, in Onawa. Neither man was wearing a seat belt. The driver of the 2006 Chevy truck, 24-year old Joseph Lee Daggett, of George, was not injured.

Officials say at around 9:40-p.m., the Oldsmobile left the BP gas station in Mapleton, heading south on Highway 141, but the Patrol says Schofield, Jr.,  did not appear to have control of the car, which swerved as he continued south on 141. The vehicle crossed the center of the road and was hit on the passenger side doors by the northbound truck. The force of the impact pushed the car onto the curb at the northeast corner of the intersection with Sioux Street and Highway 141.

The Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education will gather in the high school Media Center Tuesday evening, for a work session. During their meeting at 7:30-p.m., the Board will discuss: graduation and drop-out rates; current/new interventions at the Atlantic High School; progress being made at the Cass County Educational Opportunity Center (CCEOC) and Hospital School; and, what’s needed for future planning.