Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. ce ~ -= ~ t Gloria Carter Spann: t"'t"'O') ~ The president's biker sister is a remarkable lady By Gary Van Voorhis T he Sunset Dri ve-In T hea tre is about fi ve m iles fr om Plai ns , Georgia . It attracts a good deal of business since it is th e on ly one in the area. The weekend dou ble feature could have be en bill ed as a Washington preview. Th e movi es we r e "Capitol H ill Secret ari es" and " Co ngr ession a l Playgirls .,. Plains was just another dot on th e map until J immy Carter ga ve it mor e notoriety than it ha s ever known ; a fact th at mos t of th e townsfolk are both proud and d isp leased with in the sa me b reat h . One grizzled ol d timer termed the town " a d a rn carnival. " It is easy to see why. Ever since people sto ppe d saying "J im m y who ?" and sta rted asking di rec t ions to Pla ins , th e town ha s go ne fro m election fever to presidentia l fever wit h an epi demi ~ now of souvenir fever to feed th e s te~ di ly increasing stream of th e CU rI Ou s . The town. all 683 folks , one polic eman and the cluster of stores huddling alongsid e th e railroad tracks is no t all like tha t. There are, however, som e c r ass exampl es o f co r n p on e commer cialism like th e 15 foot tall peanut com p lete with gia nt "Carter" sm ile on th e porch of th e rail way station /electi on headqu arters tha t is p roba b ly t he ' town 's m ost photographed object. For th ose who wish to get a little closer to the Prez a nd want to know all the sec re ts of his background , there is th e offici a l 52 .50 to ur wher e by you a re whisked around to all th e im portant places in a Dodge van while listening to a taped trivia presentat ion . Be hind t his p la stic facade lies perha ps the only bastion of sanity in the town : Billy Carter's filling sta tion , It isn't hard to find sin ce it is th e only fillin g station in town , It isn't hard to rem ember either , because it looks like it might just have been there since the ad vent of the horseless carriage. There is, however , th e sign , which informs on e and a ll that this gas sta tion is " Billy Carter's. " It a ppea rs to be Bill y's concess ion to th e b ig tim e ; a freshl y p a inted and n e atl y lett ered in form ation object which is ou t of place in Pla ins as th e con glomoration of lice nse plates th at adorn the visto r's ca rs . H aving been told to sto p at the station for di rection s, we p ull in . It is a n experience, a mo nu ment to time go ne by. In sid e . out of the rai n and the wind are five or six people young a nd old . black a nd whi te , passing the time pitching nickl es, T h er e isn 't much else to do. " W a tch ing tourists is a poor sport on a rainy day in the middle of th e week ," says one of the on- lookers of the game , " b ut come back on the weekend - especially this weekend 'cause Kissinger will be here and you can rea lly get an eyeful." Bill Carter isn 't th ere. another person says. He's working, taking care of th e Carter fa m ily peanut business (the town abounds with th e name Cart er on buildings, offices and vehicles), Billy has become a sort of folk hero to th e stra igh t media. He works ha rd and when th e day is done he heads for his filling sta tion with a m ighty th irst whi ch requires a rapid quenching. The sta tion serves as the unoffi cial to wn ta vern. A friend ly man in his early twenties who is p um ping gas wh ile th e others keep on pitchin' unhesitatingly gi ves us d irect ions wh ile eyeba lling the mags on th e Biker van . "Y 'all take a right at th e track crossin' and keep on straight 'til you come to a place where the road forks . Take a right and look for some big plowed fields off to the left. When ya see .them it'll . be the first house on th e right. " Fields spotted and directions duly noted , a white house with screened -in porch appeared on the right. A wisp of sm oke stealing fro m the chimney was immediately lost in the grey of the noo ntim e sky and the ra in . Nearby stands a barn and a cou pie of ot her buildings holding a tractor and farm implements while a big green farm machine of some sort waits forlornly in the rain for its next call to duty . Walter Spann. it appears on first glance, is a farmer with the odds on that he raises peanuts. • • • "W alter and I thought you might be a little late when we saw th e weather getting bad. The door is open , so you come right on in when you get you r things ." t he presid ent's sister greeted us. Unknown at the tim e was the fact that Walter had been ready to spl it for the bam until the " p ress" left . but Gloria persuaded him to stay. " I told him you must be okay since you had a beard and were wearing a Bell Helmet jacket . " she said later. Wal t er . r espl endent in what appeared to be brand -new bib overalls, eased into a very comfortable looking leather chair as G loria. followed by her two dogs, chose the corner of th e couch closest to the crackling firepla ce . 14 " W ha t do you want to know? The letter that I wrote to ABATE has tu rn ed out to be som ewhat of a n embarrassment in that I mentioned where Walter a nd I go when we're in Daytona for Motorcycle Week and apparently copies ha ve been passed on to a number of publications. I rea lly don't want a ny publicity, You ride. you can understa nd . We don 't want

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