Michael Shuman — “Keeping the Culture of Small Towns”

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Years ago, before the myriad of things to buy were as available as they are now, retail businesses were most often locally-owned and operated, often for generations. This all began to change in the middle of the last century, as many of the items in the Sears Catalogue became available in towns and cities across the nation for consumers to feel and touch. But, it wasn’t until approximately 25 years ago when Wal-Mart, Target and other big-box stores appeared nationwide in small communities, to the detriment of locally-owned businesses and the social and economic benefits those businesses provided to their communities.  Michael Shuman, an attorney and an economist, is the author of, “The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses are Beating the Global Competition.” This book addresses the issues and problems of locally owned businesses and how they can successfully compete with the big-box stores owned by corporations foreign to the region. We began our conversation, which occurred on January 21, 2008, when I asked Michael Shuman to describe how a corporation comes into being, as a basis to understand some of the problems of locally owned businesses in competition with the big box stores.

The book he recommends is, “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work,” by John Gottman.

 

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Dan Hamburg— “Rule By Fear Or Rule By Law”

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In this edition of Radio Curious, our guest is Dan Hamburg, a long time political activist, a former member of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and a former member of Congress who represented the North Coast of California. In our conversation, recorded in the studio of Radio Curious on February 26, 2008, we discuss the concept of, “rule by fear or rule by law,” and what rules at the national level and legislative level, as well as at the local level.

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Sherrif Tom Allman — “Marijuana In Mendocino”

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In the continuing saga of marijuana politics in Mendocino County, we visit with Sheriff Tom Allman to talk about what has happened since our last visit in June 2007.  We discuss the uncertainty of the existing marijuana laws in Mendocino County, the prospects for change based on the upcoming June election (which may allow a variance to Measure G that was adopted in 2000) and about methamphetamine.

This interview with Tom Allman, the Mendocino County Sheriff, was recorded on January 15, 2008.  The book that he recommends is, “Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself,” by Alan Alda.

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The War and Other Issues with Congressman Mike Thompson

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Mike Thompson represents the First Congressional District of California, including the North Coast and Mendocino County, the home of Radio Curious, in the United States House of Representatives. In this interview recorded in his Washington, D.C. office on October 11, 2007, we discuss the war, its funding, medicare, marijuana and children’s health insurance. The House of Representatives was not able to overturn the president’s veto of the children’s health insurance program in a vote that occurred after this interview. This program was originally broadcast October 24, 2007.

Mike Thompson recommends “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army,” by Jeremy Scahill.

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Jim Wattenburger- “Who Should Control Rural Growth, Corporations or Citizens?”

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Should a shopping mall and a large residential development occur adjacent to the city of Ukiah, California? The city and many people fear this development will result in the loss of a unique, rural small town in northern California.  Mendocino County Supervisor Jim Wattenburger discusses his position in support of these projects, and about the legalization of marijuana in two programs recorded September 23, 2007, and the broadcast September 26, and October 3, 2007.

Jim Wattenburger recommends “Undaunted Courage,” by Stephen A. Ambrose.

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John Pinches — “All Politics are Local Including Marijuana”

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The concept that all politics are local is shown in this interview with Mendocino County Supervisor John Pinches in our August 7, 2007 interview on growing, use and “legalization” of marijuana.

 

 

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Carl Borden— “Potential Problems Of Employment Of Illegal Aliens”

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In this edition we discuss the “No Match” rule established by the Bush administration on August 10th, 2007. If a person is employed and the employer sends in the employment payment records with a social security number that doesn’t match the name on the social security number according to the Social Security Administration, A “No Match” letter will be sent to the employer that says “fix it.” To discuss this problem and the possible effects it has in California, we visited with Attorney Carl Borden, an associate counsel for the California Farm Bureau Federation, in his offices in Sacramento, California on August 20th, 2007.

The book recommended by Carl Borden is “Overcoming The Fear (of Death)” by David Cole Gordon.

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Richard Shoemaker & Barry Vogel, Esq. — “Citizen Effort to Combat Big Box Takeover of a Small, Rural Community”

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Contrary to the five to zero decision by the Ukiah City Council recommending a No Vote, Mendocino County Supervisor Jim Wattenburger, whoes district solely comprises the City of Ukiah, voted yes creating a board majority to further investigate the development of a major shopping center adjacent to Ukiah, a small, tranquil, rural community. In this conversation Richard Shoemaker, a former member of the Board of Supervisors from the Ukiah district, and attorney and veteran board watcher Barry Vogel (host and producer of Radio Curious) discuss the unusual anomalies of this event. This program was originally broadcast on August 22, 2007.


The book Richard Shoemaker recommends is “Ripples From the Zambezi,” by Ernesto Sirolli. Barry Vogel recommends “Big Box Swindle,” by Stacy Mitchell.

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Bruce Anderson- “The Reporter Interviewed”

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The Anderson Valley Advertiser is an iconoclastic newspaper originating weekly from Boonville, Mendocino County, California, edited and published by Bruce Anderson, whose name is merely coincidental with the name of the Anderson Valley. The masthead of the AVA, as it is sometimes called, says, “Newspapers should have no friends,” and “Fan the Flames of Discontent.” After a three-year hiatus, beginning when Anderson sold the AVA and attempted to establish a newspaper elsewhere, he repurchased the AVA and returned to Boonville on July 1, 2007 to write again. We met in the studios of Radio Curious on July 13, 2007 and talked about why he left Mendocino County, what he did while he was gone, how he reckons with the aggravated relationships he created with some people in years past, and what the readers can expect now that he again buys ink by the barrel.

The books Bruce Anderson recommends are those by Rebecca Solnit.

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Tom Allman- “The Sheriff and Marijuana”

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This program was originally broadcast on June 19, 2007.

Marijuana, some say, is on the lips of many people here in Mendocino County, California, and likely many other places throughout the world, to some with pleasure and to others with distaste. Nonetheless it doesn’t seem that marijuana will go away. Not withstanding federal laws prohibiting use and possession of marijuana, the people of the State of California adopted the Compassionate Use Act in 1996 and in November 2000, the voters of Mendocino County approved a resolution by a vote of 58% to 42% to decriminalize the personal use of marijuana. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Tom Allman the Sheriff of Mendocino County to discuss the enforcement of the many conflicting marijuana laws. Estimates of the value of the crop produced in Mendocino County vary from five to ten billion dollars. We began when I asked the Sheriff to comment on this estimate.

Tom Allman recommends “The Hunt for Red October,” by Tom Clancy

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