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Mitten Channel | Arthur Busch

Podcast Episodes Interviews, Show Notes, and Transcripts

29
July 9, 2020

#29 Michigan Murder Mystery: A Confession but No Bodies?

In 1995, in Flint, Michigan Prosecutor Arthur A. Busch received a letter from a man in a prison cell in Starke, Florida. The man wrote that he "wanted to get right with God" as he had just a short time to live. He had been diagnosed with HIV-Aids. His conscience was not clear and he did not want to die without revealing his responsibility for the murder of two men. The Prison letter writer wanted a trip to Michigan to show where he disposed of the dead bodies. He claimed he dumped one body in a ...
28
July 5, 2020

#28 Judge Jessica Hammon: Exciting, Smart and a Yoga Teacher for Delinquent Kids

Judge Jessica Hammon has an unusual passion for community service and yoga. The new Judge has taken her yoga practice so seriously that she has taken it to the Genesee Valley Regional Detention Center for Youths. There she has introduced those youths detained to trauma based yoga. The idea being the yoga experience will help deal with the stress and trauma they experienced.Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 her appointment of Jessica J. Hammon, age 38, a private practi...
27
July 2, 2020

Cold-Blooded Murders at Mary's Sunshine Dairy #20027

Mary's Sunshine Dairy was the forerunner of the more current version of a Genesee County party store. Almost from the start they were victims of robbery. Arthur tells the true crime story of one of the most sensational robbery-murders in Genesee County history, It was a triple murder execution style in the sleepy bedroom community of Flushing, Michigan. Party stores have become the focus of community outrage, upset and protest at times over the past 40 years. Mary's Sunshine Dairy was an iconic ...
26
June 28, 2020

At 92,Harry Binder, Finishes His Last Crim Road Race.

At age 92, Harry Binder finished his last Bobby Crim Road Race. The Binder Family is well known in the Flint area for their successful businesses. During Harry Binder's long business career he owned a radio station, WAMM-AM along with Reliable Furniture Store. His cousin Julius Binder owned Binders' Big and Tall Mens Store. He tells of his file growing up on McFarland Avenue in Flint with other Jewish families. He is a humanitarian raising funds for the needy in Flint and even has a Crim Festiva...
25
June 24, 2020

Judge Chris Christenson. His Path to the Bench.

Chris Christenson, is a dynamic lawyer and also a Flint native. He took an unusual path to the Courthouse and becoming President of the Genesee County Bar Association. Chris was a union carpenter when he decided to give up nails and planks for law books. He worked his way through law school as a union carpenter. Recently named a Super Lawyer by Michigan Lawyers Weekly, Chris has built his career around community service and activism in the legal profession. He is an expert in construction lawsui...
24
June 18, 2020

Scott & Me: #2: M&S Pop, Dawn Donuts, Kresege Store Selfies and Olive Burgers #24

This is the second episode of the Boomer Zone. Arthur Busch and Scott McKinstry, lifelong friends talk about Radio Free Flint and the Boomer Zone. They talk about the selfie photo booth in the 1960's at Kresge's Department Store in downtown Flint, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, Dawn Donuts the Flint's legendary chain of donut shops people grew up on in the 1960s and 1970s. The talk goes to the essence of boomer culture and memories. So listen in and take a stroll down memory lane. --- Send in a ...
23
June 14, 2020

Toxic Tadpoles and Curious Kids: Flint's First Lead Crisis

General Motors dumped leaded automotive paints, thinners, laquors, and other chemicals into a public park and surrounding areas in Flint, Michigan. The most obvious evidence of the environmental dirty deed was covered up with bulldozer and a little dirt. Then in 1953, the area known as the Dixieland Subdivision was built on top of and around this lead laced toxic chemical stew. Testing done in the area showed extremely high levels of lead at 200,000 parts per million in certain areas. In yards o...
22
June 11, 2020

Gritty Flint: George's Gambling Joint, Armed Robbery and Pinball #20022

Most paperboys finish their route at the neighbor's house. Arthur Busch's route finished at a gambling joint on the "strip" in front of a GM factory. He recounts a story of life in gritty Flint, Michigan. In his story, he of delivers the Flint Journal to a bar on his paper route and stumbles onto a robbery. Arthur then faced down the burglar who had sawed off shotgun in hand. The story of the "strip" as it was known to the neighborhood kids is about life in a factory town in the 1960's. It explo...
21
June 7, 2020

Welcome to Flint: Charlie's Drug Store Murder #20021

Arthur Busch narrates a story about the unsolved murder of a Flint drug store owner in 1954. It was the former prosecutor's welcome to Flint as his mom was pregnant for him at the time she witnessed the armed robbery and murder. The murder took place in a 1950's style drug store complete with a soda fountain. He recounts his mother's trauma and what unfolded afterwards. Flint, Michigan was once a wealthy town now has been harmed by globalization, drugs, public health crisis and crime. Today, it ...
20
June 3, 2020

US Supreme Court & Flint's Gang-Related Murder Case #20020

Lawyers dream about appearing before the U.S. Supreme Court. Only a very small number of lawyers ever get the chance. Arthur Busch argued the first Flint criminal case ever to come before the United States Supreme Court, in March 2003. Arthur Busch shares his diary by telling the story of his historic experience.. His story includes what growing up in Flint taught him about winning and lawyering. It is a behind the scenes look at what a lawyer thinks and does to get ready for the biggest case of...
17
May 31, 2020

Flint Culture Clash: Southerners Find Auto Boomtown USA

The second diary essay by Arthur Busch. Flint, Michigan is a rust-belt factory town. The town was transformed in the 1950's by a great migration of eager southerners seeking work in GM automobile factories. Arthur describes fondly his family and the hillbilly traditions and values they brought to Flint's Dixieland subdivision. He describes his family's southern customs and culture as they assimilate their lives into a northern GM company town. This all during the Golden Age for America's middle ...
16
May 31, 2020

Student Diary: A Riot at High School

History repeats itself. Flint Southwestern experienced violence that most remember as a "race riot" in 1970. The spark that started that racial disturbance was not what people thought at the time. Arthur Busch gives an audio diary of his memories of that incident. He discusses the current model of local policing; militarization of the police that has taken the cops from roles as those who protect and serve to those who occupy and suppress. Policing the police in America 2020 has not reconciled i...