HR1365 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1365 LRB097 23614 MST 72674 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate Steve Ferguson on the occasion of his retirement as the State's Attorney for Coles County; and

WHEREAS, Steve Ferguson has been the State's Attorney for Coles County for 20 years; and

WHEREAS, During Steve Ferguson's time in office, felony filings have more than doubled, prison sentences have been imposed for the most deserving, and restitution collected for victims has exceeded more than $2 million; and

WHEREAS, Steve Ferguson's has been the State's Attorney for Coles County since 1992; he was in private practice from 1983-1992 with Heller, Holmes, and Associates; he taught business law at Lake Land College from 1989-1992 and was a law clerk for the Honorable Kenneth Meyers, U.S. Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, 1982-1983; and

WHEREAS, Steve Ferguson has numerous professional affiliations in the legal area, including completion of the Career Prosecutor Course-National College of District Attorneys and Advanced Trial Advocacy program for career prosecutors-Illinois Appellate Prosecutors Office; he has served on the State Forensic Sciences Crime Laboratory Advisory Board, the Coles County Drug Court Steering Committee, the Children's Advocacy Center of East Central Illinois, the Illinois State Bar Association Assembly (ISBA), the ISBA Committee on Judicial Evaluation, the ISBA Juvenile Justice Section Council, and the ISBA Correctional Facilities and Services Committee; he is a member of the Illinois State's Attorneys Association, the National District Attorneys Association, the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation, the Prosecutors Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association, and the State of Illinois Capital Litigation Trial Bar; and

WHEREAS, Steve Ferguson is a 1982 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law; he graduated from Millikin University in Decatur in 1979, where he was Summa Cum Laude, a James Millikin Scholar, and a member of the Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society; he was a 1975 graduate of Mattoon High School, where he was valedictorian; and

WHEREAS, Steve Ferguson's retirement became official on November 30, 2012; and

WHEREAS, Steve Ferguson is married to Melissa, and has two children, Tyler and Audra; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Steve Ferguson on his retirement as the State's Attorney for Coles County and we wish him all the best with his future endeavours; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Steve Ferguson as an expression of our esteem and respect.