Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 19, 1987, edition 1 / Page 16
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10The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, February 19, 1987 w indsor makes a mark By CHRIS CAIN Staff Writer Would you guess that one success ful UNC graduate lives in the back woods of Chatham County, raises flowers and wears his overalls ever ywhere even to formal dinners at the Governor's Mansion? Perhaps not, but Bob Windsor does just that. Is Ke an aging radical? Hardly, for Windsor also owns and edits The Landmark, perhaps the most conser vative and controversial newspaper in the state. His paper gained national exposure and an international circu lation after Time magazine did a feature story on him in 1983, but the height of his local notoriety came in 1984, when, during the heat of the Hunt-Helms Senate race, he accused Jim Hunt of homosexual tendencies. Now, however, The Landmark cannot be found gracing the laun dromats or mini-marts of Chapel Hill. The newspaper has lain dor mant for nearly a year while Windsor recovers from a bout with colon cancer. The cancer was removed successfully, however, and before long, he said, the presses will be moving again. With a steady South ern drawl he promised, "This tiger ain't lost its teeth." Teeth indeed Windsor's paper gained quite a reputation for ripping into liberal politicians, "wasteful" spending, pro-choice advocates and, particularly, homosexuals: "I Ye been fighting the queers ever since I had a paper," Windsor said. Now a man of strong words. f f i Jmmr J I NEW LATE NITE MENU! served nightly after the dinner hour and LIVE ENTERTAINMENT Located in NCNB Plaza Chapel Hill 967-7145 MCAisa CASH www 'I - - . Windsor came from humble begin nings. He grew up a poor white in Winston-Salem during the wide spread poverty of the Depression. "We were always awful poor," he said, "but I had a mother.that loved me and good, wholesome food. The first time 1 really realized I was poor was when the other kids could go see 'Gone With the Wind' and I couldn't. That really had an influence on me then I wanted to make money." And make it he did. Through his real estate business in Chapel Hill, Windsor now makes well into a six digit income. "I've been rich and poor many times. 1 like being rich better, but 1 felt more at home poor," he said. Though wealthy, the very large man in blue slippers and blue overalls doesn't show it. "I used to play the game. I wore fancy clothes .... Now I wear clean, starched, overalls," he said. Those overalls have become his trademark over the past 15 years; he has worn them rain or shine, whether whittling on his front porch or J covering the state legislature. "I'm proud that I'm a common man," he said, lighting one of the 80 or so Pall Malls he smokes per day, "an ordinary man." In rhetoric as well as dress, Wind sor is decidedly populist: "I represent the weak people, those who dont have any clout," he said." Windsor sees eastern North Carolina as the. area most in need and said straight forwardly, "Those people need help. It doesn't matter whether they're black, white, or Indian we need to spend money on them." As for himself, Windsor has his needs taken care of comfortably. His large, self-designed, wooden house lies deep in the wilds of Chatham County at the end of a winding, unpaved road. Inside, beneath a cathedral ceiling, it is tastefully decorated and neatly kept by his wife of 36 years. Potted plants are abund antly evident, sharing space with less organic objects a VCR, a word processor, even a copy machine. A box full of old toys fills one corner of the living room. Windsor takes pride in fixing up old toys as well as making new ones the pogo stick against the wall will go to a young relation. He also spends a lot of time with his flowers: "lVe raised flowers all my life," he said just before he showed off evidence of another quite different pastime a recently crafted pair of numchucks. Books fill and spill out of book cases. He figures he must have read 200 books over the past year, mostly concerning political thought and , if! f - ; A I I I n Y "4V h If 4Tfvw TV If 1 is jp r : (r Photo Courtesy of The News and Observer Bob Windsor, editor of The Landmark, in his traditional dress "We were always awful poor, but I had a mother that loved me and good, wholesome food. The first time I really realized I was poor was when the other kids could go see 'Gone With the Wind' and I couldn 't." Bob Windsor fundamentalist born-again Baptist. However, Windsor is a more complex and contradictory character than he seems to be at first. For the most part, he attends the all-white asking 'How long is infinity? What is God?"' Windsor graduated in 1954 with a degree in history and political science and then went on to UNC Lister Baptist Church, but "1 go to School of Law. In his days at UNC, the black church across the river he was president of the Young some. They're fundamentalist and so Democrats Club while Charles am I," he said. Kuralt was writing for the Daily Tar He counts Jerry Falwell among his HeeL Though most of his views run friends, yet criticizes some fundamen- completely counter to Kuralt's, talist preachers. "They don't want Windsor said that he has always liked their children to question; question- the man "All us fat people are ing is a good thing. Don't deprive jolly," he said with a low burst of yourself of thought, Windsor laughter. warned. He recalls fondly his own days of questioning as a student at UNC theory. But currently, he is reading during the Korean War. "I remember the Talmud and parts of the Koran, sitting around with a bunch of boys surely an odd combination for a at Lenior Hall, drinking coffee and B ieydl sure Vdtai Windsor says he also gets along well with Chancellor Christopher Fordham and likes the look of the new UNC president, CD. Spangler. Regardless of UNC's liberal reputa tion, its anti-apartheid rallies, its CGLA, Windsor said that he loves the college. "It's a place where you can go and think," he said. He has been an admirer of former UNC system President William Friday for years. "I'd always sort of idealized him until the last couple of years. Bill Friday sort of caved in to the power," he said. Bob Windsor may be steadfast in his controversial views, but he is not beyond concession: "Who says I'm always right?" he said and then paused for a moment. "Just let jjevejyonejiave their, say,. then decide for yourself."
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 19, 1987, edition 1
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