Montna's spatula on a golf club? It's for a really big grill

Talk to retired Sutter County Supervisor Larry Montna about issues he dealt with as a supervisor, and he responds plainly, often spinning in some experience from his lifelong Sutter County residence.

Ask about what he has done apart from the board, and he shows you.

His Yuba City muffler shop also acts as a storage yard for Montna's other hobbies, including building model airplanes and hosting huge community cookouts for good causes.

As he took visitors through a storage area filled with kitchen implements, Montna pointed to spatulas attached to golf club shafts so one didn't have to stretch over a hot grill to reach a burger or pancake. He groaned at the memory of using a 30-gallon pot to make stew for a school event once.

"Most people do stew on a pot on the stove, they think no big deal," he said. "Try it in one of those."

At the back of the shop, there is a floor and incomplete walls on a storage shed Montna will eventually move to his backyard at his Yuba City home. He said he has no timetable for when that'll happen.

Montna's wife, Norma, already teases him about filling it with more stuff because their garage is already full.

But she said she has admired the way he served on the Board of Supervisors.

"He knows a lot, and he never forgets a thing," she said.

If he disagreed with someone, Norma Montna said, he never made it personal.

Even if he's not arguing about new towns in south Sutter County, or other hot issues, anymore, Montna said he doesn't plan to be sedentary.

"I'll find something for me to do," he said. "I might not work as fast. But you've got to have toys."

— Ben van der Meer