$17 million to make Billy Carter's gas station a national park service?

[OnePimpTiger]

Billy Carter gas station historic?
Plan is afoot to memorialize his gas station

Should American taxpayers foot the bill to enshrine the gas station run by the late Billy Carter -- the beer-swilling, wisecracking, self-professed redneck brother of the 39th president?

Located in tiny Plains, still the world's most famous peanut town some 28 years after the Carter presidency, the station was transformed into a museum last year by a civic group that owns the property.

Its claim to historical significance came during Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential run, when reporters mobbed Plains and transformed the station into an unofficial headquarters...

...Last month, the House approved a measure that would incorporate the station into the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, a National Park Service operation that already runs a number of Carter-related buildings in Plains.

A similar bill is under consideration in the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The legislation calls for the park service to take over the gas station, plus an old farmhouse where Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, lived from 1956 to 1961.

The park service would also take over a state-run welcome center threatened with closing because of state budget problems.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates it would cost $17 million to upgrade and maintain the sites over the next five years. That was enough to elicit an objection from Steve Ellis, vice president of the Washington-based Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Ellis said his concern has nothing to do with Billy Carter's place in history. It's a question of priorities, he said. The park service already faces a $9 billion maintenance backlog for property it manages, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Seriously? Spend $17 million of tax payer money to memorialize the gas station of a former president's brother? And apparently it's not such an outlandish request as the only objection was the current $9 billion backlog. Maybe if they cut out all the other presidential sibling's gas stations, they could cut down that $9 million backlog.

[Star_Cards]

seems a bit wasteful if you ask me, but that's what these guys are great at. It is way easier to spend other people's money than it is yours'.

[shamrock77s]

Just wait until you see what they're going to spend on Roger Clinton's liquor store.