Hibernian Radio Podcast, Sat. September 16, 2023

Mark Curran Fox’s Pizza, Guinness, Madden Funds and Flood Brothers Disposal present the Hibernian Radio Hour at our newest recording location, The Beacon Pub in Forest Park and we are honored to have Mark Curran return to the show this week. Mark is an old pal  going back as far as ‘The Skinny & Houli Show’ days and Houli describes him as “a right-thinking individual”. He grew up in Lake County and describes himself as having a ‘blue collar mindset’. His ancestors hail from Mayo and Clare and he shares the incredible story of his grandfather reaching America after being incarcerated in Australia. Mark has plenty of childhood stories to share including the time his father reacted badly to him wearing orange on St. Patrick’s Day and he mentions the obvious difference between the Protestants and the Catholics in his neighborhood growing up. He worked as Lake County Sheriff from 2006 to 2018 and he gives us some great insight into his 12 years as Sheriff, describing the main differences he saw going from Prosecutor to Sheriff. Mark is currently practicing Law and worked as a County State Federal Prosecutor for a long time. He was elected as a Democrat in 2006 but explains what made him switch to Republican. The craic is mighty between these two old pals, delving into their shared Catholic faith and how the current media personifies evil. Mark hosts a Catholic Radio show on WSFI 88.5 FM so be sure to have a listen! These two discuss the seriousness surrounding Mark’s work and the consequences of following his career path. “I’ve lost so many friends over the years from politics and positions I’ve taken.” He also chats to Houli about running against Dick Durbin and he ends this wonderful interview with some strong words for Mayor Brandon Johnson – he has the experience to back it up! We go on to take a musical break with “Joyce Country Ceili” by the Saw Doctors followed by some upcoming local events including our 9th Annual Irish American Movie Hooley at The Wilmette Theatre from Sept 22-24. We head over to the recent obituaries and we end another great one this week with a final stop at ‘Houli-Town’.