Legislature Honors Terry Woster, Local Journalism

The Legislature's various resolutions and commemorations sometimes seem like a waste of time, especially when they have just three and a half days left to pass a budget.

However, for a man who served the state in his vocation for 40 years (and continues to do so), House Commemoration 1027 is a tolerable diversion:

A LEGISLATIVE COMMEMORATION, Honoring Terry Woster for his contributions to South Dakota journalism and culture and for forty years of reporting on the South Dakota State Legislature.

WHEREAS, Terry Woster was raised in Lyman County with brothers Jim and Kevin and sister Mary, and remembers and shares important lessons and experiences from his rural upbringing;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster enjoys a lifelong love of the Fourth Estate that began as a youth when he discovered that the newspaper brought the outer world to the farmhouse, and was fostered as he delivered the Sunday Minneapolis Tribune;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster studied journalism at South Dakota State University and has written for the Associated Press and newspapers in Volga, Chamberlain, and Pierre, along with a long association with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster excels in his vocation and profession as a writer while planted here at home in his native soil of South Dakota, and has become one of the most respected, admired, and accomplished journalists in state history;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster has covered forty of the state's eighty-four legislative sessions, and is appreciated as an objective reporter who arrives at committee meetings and floor sessions with his trademark smile, his notebook, immense historical perspective, and the proper healthy cynicism;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster is a rural Renaissance Man of varied interests and gifts, including not just writing but music, history, and South Dakota athletics:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT COMMEMORATED, by the Eighty-fourth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, that Terry Woster, despite long service in the employ of conglomerate media, writing for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader from 1967 to 2008, personally exemplifies the best traditions of hometown journalism through his commitment and caring for the people and communities of South Dakota.

For once, a Legislative pronouncement sparks no debate.