I have a somewhat older cousin, one who passed through our home during the Exodos that I was reminded of by my mother this morning. He's retired now but earned vast fortunes as a developer and politician in the build-up of Raleigh and Cary, North Carolina where he still holds vast real estate holdings even today. North Carolina governors still take his telephone calls even though they probably don't want to.
He was known for being ruthless and willing to stop at nothing. Got caught up in a couple of political scandals involving a couple of governors but always came out smelling like a rose. He built skyscrapers, owns car dealerships, truck dealerships and tractor dealerships state wide. He's not Rick Hendrix but he knows him.
About 20 years ago something happened to my cousin. He'd not been back to the mountains in many years and was feeling homesick so he loaded up the wife and kids for a trip back home. But when he got there he saw what developers-- men and women just like him and Robbie Perkins-- were doing to his mountain home and his family who remained... Something snapped.
At 55 years of age he retired from development. "Developers," He said, "will stop at nothing to make a profit. They're the lowest of the low. I know, I was one. A damned good one. One of the best."
He daughter runs the dealerships and collects the rents on what the family jokes is half of Raleigh and Cary. My cousin is now the best guy you'd ever want to meet, do anything for anybody and now spends his time helping his younger brother run the family apple orchards they grew up on, raises dairy cattle, christmas trees, renting antique cars to Hollywood movie studios (a very lucrative hobby) raises bees and his favorite pastime, swooping in at the last minute and buying up properties in the mountains and along the North Carolina coast and putting them in protected land trusts so that they can never be developed. He literally owns hundreds of thousands of acres across North Carolina.
Too bad Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins is from Richmond, Virginia and doesn't have a mountain to go back to visit.
