thoughtsignals

Here’s another thing worth celebrating on July 4th: The Freedom of Information Act.

U.S. government documents used to be considered secret unless individual agencies decided to release them.

But on July 4, 1966, that presumption was inverted when the Freedom of Information Act was signed into law, declaring that in a government of, by and for the people, government records must be released to the public upon request, unless those records meet a handful of defined exemptions.

Over the last four decades, FOIA (pronounced “foy-ya”) has become one of the most important laws creating openness and transparency in government. It’s a key tool for journalists and nonprofit groups investigating the workings of the federal government.

Happy Independence Day!

Link.

The Bynum General Store, the last store in the tiny former Chatham County mill town of Bynum has closed. The N&O, justifiably, has given the town a nice Sunday story:

They still call Bynum a mill town, even though the old textile factory burned up a long time ago. These days it’s more of a 250-person village, held together by a few twisting streets and an impossibly quaint neighborly spirit.

I used to live just a few miles up the highway from Bynum, and I’ve visited the town once a year or so the last few years for the annual Haw River Festival. The story of Bynum is the story of a lot of North Carolina towns, especially in the last couple of decades. These communities, once driven, for good or bad, by the state’s textile industry are fading into the history books.

Up-and-comer country star Tift Merrit has written about the town, where she used to hold regular concerts in “Laid a highway.” (The N&O story quotes several verses from Merritt’s song, but in the online version they don’t do a very good job of distinguishing those quotes from the rest of the story.)

They laid a highway a few years back
Next town over by the railroad track
Some nights I’m glad it passed me by
Some nights I sit and watch my hometown die.

Link. There’s an audio slide show here that accompanies the story. Also, there’s a short clip of Merritt’s song accompanying the story (look in the column immediately to the right of the story for the Flash player). You can listen to the entire song on Merritt’s web site (click on “music” in the menu).