The body of water that would become Jesse Helms Lake anchors one of the most popular recreation areas in the state, visited by about a million boaters, campers, hikers and picnickers every year.

But three decades ago, Helms, then a freshman senator in Congress, fought hard to keep federal money from being spent on parkland for the new lake.

So the suggestion this week to rename Falls Lake for the conservative icon has a few old-timers around Raleigh scratching their heads.

A bit of history: Raleigh officials pushed to build the lake in the early 1970s so they could have a fresh drinking-water supply. They needed federal cash to fund their vision. But Helms opposed much of the project as federal pork.

He introduced a bill to delete 3,600 acres of recreational land from the plan as a frill. His proposal would have cut millions of dollars; city officials said the bill threatened to kill the deal.

Today, some of those same officials find it odd that U.S. Rep. Walter Jones wants to name the lake after Helms.

"It just seems ludicrous to me to name something after him that he fought so hard," said Oliver Williams, who was a Raleigh City Council member and chairman of the city's public works committee from 1973 to 1975. He said he means no disrespect to Helms.

Jones, a Farmville Republican who introduced the lake-naming legislation Thursday, called that argument "silly." He said Friday that Helms' service to North Carolina should be the overriding issue in whether to put the former senator's name on the lake.

Jones pointed out that he wasn't serving in Washington in the 1970s, and he didn't recall the history of Falls Lake's beginnings.

Jimmy Broughton, Helms' former chief of staff, agrees. He said Friday that Helms wasn't opposed to the lake so much as the scope of the project.

And besides, Broughton added, Helms still deserves the honor. Ronald Reagan wasn't a fan of big government, after all, and the former president has a nice federal office building named after him in Washington, Broughton said.

Whatever the lake's history, Helms' wife, Dorothy Coble Helms, said through a spokeswoman that she was honored and appreciative of Jones' gesture. Helms himself is in the hospital and unavailable for comment.

For the record, Helms' proposed bill failed to pass a congressional subcommittee in 1974. It was blocked in part by the state's Democratic senator, Sam Ervin, who supported the Falls Lake plan.

Years later, Helms did come around in his views. In 1977, he pushed for more federal money for the project, which was nearing construction.

Today, the 12,000-acre lake stretches through Wake, Durham and Granville counties, serves as flood control for the Neuse River downstream and is Raleigh's main source of drinking water. The Falls Lake State Recreation Area covers an additional 26,000 acres.

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh, whose district includes part of Falls Lake, said this week he hadn't yet heard about Jones' bill, and he doesn't know whether local residents want a name change. If they do, though, Miller has some other names to consider: Perhaps former University of North Carolina system President Frank Porter Graham ... or Ervin.

(News researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.)