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A sign along East Carey Street in Plains Township welcomes former President Jimmy Carter.
Rob Sax and daughter Sammie, Plains Township, look at items at Cook and Cook Auctions in Plains Township prior to today’s auction. Former President Jimmy Carter will visit the area for the event.
Niko J. Kallianiotis/For The Times Leader
PLAINS TWP. – Admirers of former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, will have the opportunity today to bid on some of the couple’s personal items, books and works of art and, if lucky enough to have bought a ticket, see the couple in person.
The Carters are expected to attend the Plains Helping Plains auction at Cook and Cook Auctions on Carey Avenue. The 39th U.S. president and the first lady donated many of the 166 items up for bid at the auction, the proceeds of which will benefit the Plains Better Hometown Program.
The program is actually a non-profit organization working to preserve buildings in the former president’s hometown of Plains, Ga.
“We’ve been getting ready for this auction for about a year. (Monday was) the preview. People have been stopping in to get a sneak peak of what’s going up for bid,” said auction co-owner Diane Cook.
Cook said some of those items include a painting by President Carter titled “The Pump House,” which depicts a pond and a row boat; the personal tricycle scooter that he was seen riding on an episode of “60 Minutes”; and a dress, purse and gloves worn by his wife.
Also up for bid will be several events such as a barbecue for 20 with the Carters in Plains, Ga.; a personal tour of The Carter Center there; and a getaway to a cabin that the Carters own.
Books written by each of them, campaign memorabilia and items associated with Habitat for Humanity – a favorite cause of the couple – also are among items up for bid.
The Cooks transported items to their Plains Township store after visits with the Carters, whom they now call good friends, in Plains, Ga., in November and in February. The Carters asked the Cooks to conduct an auction during one of the Cooks’ many visits there early last year.
Diane Cook, who co-owns the auction with her husband, Larry, and Annette and Mark Parmelee, said seats at the auction were sold out, but anyone can log on to the auction website, register before the 5 p.m. start time and bid by proxy.
Today’s visit will be President Carter’s second to Northeastern Pennsylvania. He visited the region once before, during his presidency when he held a town hall meeting at Pittston Area High School in October 1980 during his re-election campaign.
BID ONLINE
Check out the items up for bid and pre-bid at www.cookandcookauctions.com.