[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 21265-21266]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       HONORING SHIRLEY RAGSDALE

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I rise today to publicly commend 
Shirley Ragsdale, the editor for the Sioux Falls, South Dakota Argus 
Leader newspaper, on her receiving the national Casey Journalism Center 
Awards 2000 Casey Medals for her outstanding coverage of the plight of 
South Dakota's children in the Juvenile Corrections facilities.
  The Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism honor distinguished 
coverage of disadvantaged children and family, and the institutions and 
agencies charged with serving them. The Casey Journalism Center serves 
as an independent national resource center for professional journalists 
and it is operated by the University of Maryland

[[Page 21266]]

and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
  Shirley Ragsdale is a talented journalist, an advocate of children's 
rights, and a dedicated citizen of South Dakota. This honorable award 
is a reflection of her extraordinary talent, creativity, and ability to 
convey depth and originality supported by thorough research and 
consistent documentation. Her unremitting and well-reasoned editorials 
pressed for changes in the unacceptable practices, as indicated by 
substantiated reports of abuse, occurring within the South Dakota 
juvenile correction system.
  Shirley Ragsdale truly deserves this prestigous award. It is an honor 
for me to share her impressive achievements with my colleagues and to 
commend her on her journalistic success.

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