Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, August 2, 2017
- FIVE
Britts receive ‘Garden Highlight’ recognition
Rita Britt stands in the large planting bed in the Britts’ back-
yard, next to a fountain drilled in an Opal Creek boulder. Roger
Britt opted out of the photo, stating that Rita was the “yard
person” and deserved the recognition. -Photo by Kay Proctor
By Kay Proctor
Creating a neat and tidy
country yard has earned
Rita and Roger Britt the
Garden Highlight recogni-
tion for 2017.
The Britt’s purchased
the old “Ham’s place” in
2001. First improvements
were pastures and fences
for the Brahmas Roger
raised for breeding and sell-
ing for rodeo stock. A few
of the older Brahma cows
are left, replaced by Black
Angus. Their chosen home
site had never had a house
on it before, so ground was
leveled and a new home put
in place. The Britts moved
to their new address of
56574 Upper Rhea Creek
Road in 2002.
The home and yard
sit on about 1,200 acres of
pasture, alfalfa fields and
CRP with Rhea Creek run-
ning through it. Roger was
a rodeo bull rider for years,
and that is captured with
two steel silhouettes of a
bull and rider flanking the
graveled driveway leading
to the home and its green
lawn.
The lawn and beds are
entirely edged in concrete
and the house is surrounded
by smooth, wide sidewalks.
Roger sprays the property
for weeds, but Rita keeps
the yard weed-free. She
walks it several times a
week with a ready-to-use
weed killer spray bottle to
keep weeds at bay “before
they get a stand.”
Rita uses a riding lawn
mower and has always
loved to mow, stating she
would do so every day if the
yard needed it. She enjoys
having a “neat, tidy place
with a fresh look.” Her
favorite plants are petunias
and purple fountain grass.
Automatic, underground
sprinklers keep everything
green.
A breezeway connects
the home to the garage
and provides privacy as an
outdoor room. Comfortable
chairs, tables, a ceiling fan
and family mementos all
make this Rita’s favorite
place in the yard. They
found an old fashioned
‘Home Comfort’ wood
cook stove on Craigslist,
Roger owned and op-
installed it in the breeze- winter’s weather brought
way and now Roger cooks in lots of elk to the area, erated a logging truck for
though. There was a sur- years, then switched over
prise visitor one holiday: to gravel trucks and sep-
Rita had set a turkey carcass tic service. Rita was the
in a roasting pan on the bookkeeper and they sold
breezeway table to cool. the business in 2014. Also
When she returned later, a working as a hairdresser
raccoon was sitting at the and secretary in the past,
table enjoying the tradi- Rita has retired recently
tional Thanksgiving feast, from 28 years employment
“just like he was invited.” with the Morrow County
Rita grew up in Hep- School District, first as a
pner and met Roger when school bus driver and then
he moved here. He has also as a teacher’s aide. She
lived in Spray and Madras. states she will “really miss
During their 47 years of the kids” this fall when
marriage, they lived in Pilot school starts.
Garden Highlights rec-
One of the distinctive fea- Rock for a while, but most-
tures of the Britts’ home is ly around Heppner where ognition honors yards with
this working wood cook stove they raised their two sons, exceptional highlights, spe-
found on Craigslist; Roger Russell and Jason, who live cial outdoor projects or ru-
Britt cooks sourdough pan-
cakes on it every Sunday. in the Sacramento area and ral settings and is sponsored
work for the same electrical by the Heppner Volunteers
-Photo by Kay Proctor
co-operative. The Britt’s and MCGG-Green Feed &
have a 15-year-old grand- Seed. Contact Kay Proctor
sourdough pancakes every daughter and a 13-year-old for further information or
Sunday.
grandson in California, too. suggestions.
From there, they can
look out to the large plant-
ing bed in the middle of
their backyard where de-
ciduous and evergreen trees
are mixed with large boul-
ders hauled in from the
Opal Creek area. One has
been drilled, plumbed and
turned into a fountain with
water cascading from the
top.
Chukars, pheasants and
killdeer visit, but “deer
aren’t too bad.” Gus, their
border collie, might help This steel silhouette, one of two that flanks the Britts’ driveway
keep the mule ear and white on Upper Rhea Creek, is reminiscent of Roger Britt’s days as
tail deer away. This past a rodeo bull rider. -Photo by Kay Proctor
COUNTY COMMISSION
-Continued from PAGE ONE sioner Doherty asked Rus- auditor “may” be appointed
several choices would be
to hire an administrator, or
divide the duties among the
three commissioners. He
said hiring the administra-
tor was a smart decision
and he wanted to continue
on with that.
Commissioner Jim
Doherty said he was also in
favor of a full-time admin-
istrator. “We give direction
of where the county is go-
ing to the administrator and
he carries that vision out,”
Doherty said. He said going
the way of the commission
handling the duties would
result in fragmented bosses
for the county staff.
Commission chair Me-
lissa Lindsay said she had
talked to most of the county
department heads and they
all felt some form of chief
of staff or administrative
officer was important for
a smooth-running county
government.
Through consensus the
commissioners decided to
start the search for a new
replacement administrator,
and then went on to decide
whether to hire an interim
or have one of the commis-
sioners do the job until the
position is filled. Commis-
sell if he would be willing
to take on the administrator
job in the interim.
“I ran a business with
90 employees and I would
consider taking on the inter-
im admin,” Russell said. He
added that he would only
do it if it lasted for no more
than three to four months.
Both Doherty and Lind-
say also said they would
consider the job if Russell
declined. Russell said he
would have an answer by
the Aug. 2 commission
meeting. The commission
also agreed to form a search
committee at this meeting.
The committee would be
made up of Doherty, Karen
Wolff, Jerry Sorte, a lay
person from the community
and one department head.
In other business at
a previous July 26 meet-
ing the commission voted
to appoint county finance
director Kate Knop to the
position of county auditor.
The position has not been
filled since the 1990s and
the commission wanted
to make sure it got filled.
County treasurer Gail Guti-
errez objected to the posi-
tion being filled saying
that the ordinance said the
not “shall.”
“What is the purpose
and reason for this?” she
asked the commission. “Is it
necessary and is it needed?”
she wanted to know. Guti-
errez said the commission
was moving forward with-
out knowing the financial
impact of appointing the
position. She also wanted to
know who was going to do
the financial analysis of fill-
ing the position. Assessor
Mike Gorman also objected
to the appointment, saying
that most of the duties of
the auditor were already
being carried out by other
departments.
“It’s (the auditor posi-
tion and ordinance) there
and to ignore it would be
inappropriate,” chair Lind-
say said. The commission
then voted unanimously to
appoint Knop as auditor.
In other action, the
commission voted to buy
a new road grader for pub-
lic works. They accepted
the low bid of $210,000
from Rowand Machinery
in Pasco for a 2012 John
Deere grader with a 2013
Henke -way folding plow
and a 60-inch benching
snow wing.
In other business, the
commission heard a report
from Morrow County Sher-
iff’s Office Administrative
Lieutenant Melissa Ross,
who went over several in-
cidents around the county
in the past month, including
the following:
South County
7-6 Accident. MP 10
Willow Creek Road. Pickup
truck reported off the road,
on the creek side, folded
up with broke windshield,
rolled. Located driver at
nearby residence. Ambu-
lance responded, patient
refusal. Transported POV
back home to La Grande.
7-15 Citizen Assist.
Resident ran away from
Lakeview Heights and was
swimming near the dam.
She would not come out
of the water. Worker called
back to advise they con-
vinced swimmer to come
out of the water and back
to Lakeview.
North County
7-5 Agency Assist/Ben-
ton County, WA. Three sub-
jects left on a jet ski about
6:30 p.m., been gone about
hour and a half. One sub-
ject was found three miles
west of Crowe Butte about
¼-mile off the Oregon side.
A 40-year-old male and
three-year-old female still
missing. Unknown if they
have life jackets. MCSO
Marine Deputy was called
out, headed to marina. Ben-
ton County called back
and said to disregard, but
thanks. They found all sub-
jects alive.
7-6 Lost Child. Board-
man Eastbound Rest Area.
Nine-year-old male came
out of the restroom and his
family had left without him.
From Montana. Able to
make contact with parents
on the road. They came
back to pick up son. He
had been in the third seat
row in the Suburban and
no one saw him get out and
go into the rest area. They
thought he was still asleep
in the back.
7-21 Fire Started in Gil-
liam County, was reported
to MCSO by someone on
the freeway, by county line
about 1:40 p.m. Boardman
Fire went out to check, in
Gilliam County and they
were aware of situation
and had crews working
fire. At 5:12 p.m., Ione FD
was paged out to respond
to MP 9 on Highway 74
to protect structures from
wildland fire that got away
from Gilliam County. Our
fire crews headed back to
station about 1 a.m..
7-21. Excessive Speed.
Three drivers driving in ex-
cess of 90 mph on the free-
way were issued citations
within one-hour period.
7-22. Excessive Speed.
Five drivers driving in ex-
cess of 90 mph on the free-
way were issued citations
within 1-1/2-hour period.
(Two citations earlier in
month were in excess of
100 mph.)
WEATHER
-Continued from PAGE ONE
Normal highs for Heppner
during August are 85.5 de-
grees and normal lows are
53.5 degrees. The 30-year
normal precipitation is 0.39
inches.
The National Weather
Service is an office of the
National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration,
an agency of the U.S. Com-
merce Department.
“ Our Roots Run Deep in Morrow County”
August 19-20, 2017
Fair Admission: Ages 8 & Up $4 daily or $10 week
7 & under FREE (must be with Adult)
Rodeo Admission: 13 & up $10
7-12 yrs. $6
6 & under FREE
Fair: www.co.morrow.or.us/fair
Wednesday 16
th
The Reptile Man
Kid Fun Zone
Scarecrow Contest
The Junebugs
Ice Cream Social
4-H Food Contest
4-H/FFA Small Animal
Showmanship
4-H Fashion Revue
RDO Tractor Pull
Cory Peterson Band
Thursday 17
th
The Reptile Man
Kid Fun Zone
Old Time Fiddlers
Talent Show
FFA Floral Design
Murray’s Wine Tasting
Featuring:
Joe Lindsay
Nate Botsford
Friday 18 th
The Reptile Man
Kid Fun Zone
4-H/FFA Showmanship
Ballet Performances 4-7 yrs.
Master Showmanship
Adult Showmanship
Greased Pig Contest
OTPR/NPRA Rodeo
Saturday 19 th
The Reptile Man
Kid Fun Zone
Parade
FFA Awards
Buyers Luncheon
Livestock Auction
OTPR/NPRA Rodeo
Business
Card
Printing
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Gazette Times
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Heppner, OR
97836
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