Say Goodbye to Poor Plains

It was only two months ago that Jimmy Carter left Plains to move into the White House, but the elation his neighbors felt then has vanished. Plains has lost its innocence. The once picturesque and placid farm town of 683 people in southwest Georgia is being buried beneath the detritus of the commercialized American presidency. Worse, jealousy and avarice are turning the townspeople against one another as they attempt to capitalize on--or somehow endure--the 5,000 tourists a day who descend upon them. Jimmy Carter's brother Billy summed it up for TIME Correspondent Stanley Cloud: "The town is just too small to accommodate all this. I don't see how it can survive."

Survival is no longer the issue. The old Plains is already dead. Carter T shirts ($4.50), Amy Carter birdhouses ($8), Jimmy Carter "Happy Mouth" bottle openers ($4), Plains coloring books ($1) and the "Georgia Peanut Presidential Handbag" ($15) are now the chief stock of almost every shop in town. Outsiders so jam the small stores that Plains residents have taken to driving ten miles to Americus to do the simplest food shopping. Although the state has installed Plains' first traffic light, massive traffic tie-ups occur regularly. Five tour outfits, one of them partially owned by Billy Carter, now operate in Plains. Two use minitrains to show the area's sights--Jimmy's birthplace, Miss Lillian's home, the housing project where Jimmy and Rosalynn lived, the local high school--another is planning to bring in a huge double-decker bus.

Social Rivals. Rumors abound of "slick guys from the North" who are about to invest in Plains. At least 34 corporations have registered in Plains (cost: $3) in order to use the town's name on theie letterheads. A few outsiders, slick or not, have made more substantial investments. A group of Canadian investors recently purchased 190 acres of farm land outside town for $325,000. They hope to install a campground and amusement park. A Georgia representative of Holiday Inns has looked into building a small motel on the highway between Plains and Americus.

But outsiders are no more guilty of plundering Plains than local residents. Maxine Wiggins, whose farmer husband recently suffered a heart attack and can no longer work, is involved in the Plains Realty Co.'s sale of 1-in. square lots, at $11 each, of what was once Carter farm land. The Williams family, longtime business and social rivals of the Carters, are mainstays of the cheap souvenir trade. So is Hugh Carter, the President's first cousin and deacon in the Baptist church. Hugh now keeps his store open on Sundays, although he once said he never would. Billy Carter has started a company called Plains Civic Projects that sells souvenirs from the train depot. ("It's not exactly a nonprofit outfit," Billy says, "but the money is supposed to go into civic improvements.") Maxine Reese, who manages Plains Civic Projects, is also planning to put in Plains' first liquor store, to the horror of many residents.

For Sale signs have sprouted like peanut plants in Plains. In some cases the motive is profit, in others the goal is flight. Land that was selling for $600 or $700 a year ago is now carrying price tags of $5,000 an acre and up (to a high of $25,000 an acre). William O. Cochran, a farmer who moved with his family to Plains three years ago, attempted to auction off publicly his 1,056 acres after an expensive publicity buildup. Cochran received a high bid of $1.2 million, but mysteriously refused it.

All of this--plus the controversy over the integration of the Baptist church several weeks ago--has ignited bitter feuds. Says Gloria Spann, Carter's sister: "Plains used to be just like a family. But it's split now. Families are split. The church is split." Two weeks ago, Billy Carter nearly came to blows with a local real estate agent during a rezoning hearing. Says Mrs. Wiggins: "Sure, people are getting greedy. But what really upsets me is that one or two families who have already made a lot of money are trying to keep everyone else from getting in on it."

The Carters, who at once caused the problem while benefiting and suffering the most from it, are also trying, along with a few others, to cope with it. Billy, when he is not managing the Carter warehouse or arranging a World Team Tennis exhibition in Plains for April 30 (the proceeds go to Charity) or making celebrity appearances, is fighting commercial rezoning applications. He and the other Carters, including the famed Miss Lillian, who is described by relatives as "a prisoner in her own house," have been forced out of public view by tourists. NO VISITORS, NO TRESPASSING reads a sign in front of her house. "Maybe we should just put a tent over the entire town," Billy says, "and declare the whole f----thing a circus."

Jimmy Carter is not unaware of the problems he has caused. In order to avoid creating even more chaos, he has decided not to go home for Easter this year. Instead, he will travel to Calhoun, Ga., where Son Jack lives. When the President discussed this plan with his brother by telephone, Billy told him he could come home if he wanted. "You being here won't make it any worse than it already is," said Billy to the leader of the free world.

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