The town of Corbin, Ky., wants to build a great big bronze statue of Colonel Harland Sanders since he's a hometown boy who had his first restaurant there. Trouble is, it'll be real expensive. Sharae Myers, director of Corbin's Main Street Program, estimates that the statue with a marble pedestal honoring the Kentucky Fried Chicken founder will run between $60,000 and $75,000. 'We're looking at what's called a heroic type of statue, which would be 9 to 12 feet tall,' she said. To raise the money, the town is forming a nonprofit called Friends of Colonel Sanders. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants to help out with the money thing, however. In a letter to Myers, PETA has offered to build the Colonel Sanders statue out of chicken droppings. 'PETA would like to apply for a permit to place a life-size rendition of Colonel Sanders made entirely of chicken feces in downtown Corbin,' says the letter, written by Tracy Reiman, PETA's executive vice president. 'PETA's statue radiates the smell of the crowded, filthy sheds in which chickens are forced to live out their short lives before being killed for KFC's buckets.' I'm thinking the chicken poop statue probably won't happen. 'It's just really a publicity stunt, and their request will go through the proper channels,' Myers said. 'But I doubt very seriously it will be approved because it's ridiculous and a health hazard.' Wonder what the proper channels are for that. Colonel Sanders is a much beloved figure in Corbin. His first restaurant, Sanders Cafe, is still in town. The Colonel had a motel and a gas station, said Samantha Swindler , managing editor of the Corbin Times-Tribune. 'He was in Corbin before his face was on a bucket of chicken,' Myers said. 'There's many people in town who remember delivering the paper to him.' She says he was a jack of all trades: a tire salesman, midwife, self-appointed attorney and champion of senior citizens' rights. The statue of the colonel would come with a welcome center and an herb garden. 'The colonel was known for 11 herbs and spices,' Myers said. Myers is working with the Institute of Outdoor Drama in Chapel Hill, N.C., to write a musical about Colonel Sanders' life. Think Robert Goulet. How will they come up with the songs? Somebody will have to wing it. One of them might be 'Fry me to the Moon.' But PETA isn't playing along. 'KFC refuses to lift a finger to improve conditions for the nearly 1 billion chickens killed for its restaurants worldwide,' PETA's letter says. Which reminds me. I'll have the chicken fingers. John Kelso writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: jkelso@statesman.com. 