Burk triumphs
ADAMS:
ISU senior pins Missouri’s Henderson, propels Cyclones to home win
Media outlets are wrong to release video of Georgian luger’s death see OPINION on PAGE 5
see SPORTS on PAGE 7
February 16, 2010, Volume 204 >> Number 101 >> 40 cents >> iowastatedaily.com >> An independent newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
TUESDAY
Foster Family
Unlikely hero inspires
Editor’s note: This story is part two of a three-story series on Ruth Phillips and her journey to becoming a birth mom of four, adoptive mom of six and a foster mom of over 65. The Phillips family resides in Story City, but Ruth works in the Ames area. Pick up Wednesday’s Daily for the third and final part of the series.
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Check out an interview with Tatton, Ruth Phillips’ first biological son, about his experience at iowastatedaily.com
By Jennifer Dryden Special to the Daily After declaring her conclusion to the tainted foster care system in her mind, Ruth Phillips and her then-husband Donnie began their own family with their first son, Tatton, in late 1988. Any children Ruth would care for, she claimed, would only come biologically. Phillips had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in family environment from Iowa State in 1987, just a year before meeting the 13-year-old girl with the plastered hair who eventually ended up the same as before — a dropout surrounded by drugs at home with her biological parents. Despite what the National Organization for Victim Assistance training instructed, Phillips had grown attached to that troubled teen. She was starting her own family now where she could grow attached and no one could disappoint her by taking him away. The phone rang the first week of December about a 15-year-old boy who was at a boys’ ranch in South Dakota needing a placement. Phillips turned to her then-husband and he reassured her this was her calling. Phillips accepted wearily, anxious of what was to come. “DHS blankly said, ‘He has been failed by everybody,’” Phillips remembers about John, her second foster child. “He came with a juvenile record probably as long as your arm.” Looking past the blunt attitude this young man carried, Phillips says John taught her things all foster parents should know. “How to deal with an angry person, how to deal with somebody who doesn’t want you in their life, how to persevere and break through and gain trust in a kid ... It was a constant tug of war for three years.” Tatton, being a three-month-old infant, innocently took to this angry young man. Whenever Tatton would drool, roll over or look at him, John would scowl, “It’s looking at me … It drooled … It moved.”
John — shown here with Tatton Phillips, the oldest of the biological Phillips children — was the second foster child taken in by Ruth Phillips. Ruth said John’s surly demeanor was softened by the then infantTatton’s attention. Ruth, who has fostered 65 children and currently has a family of 12, said when John went away to college he asked to take Tatton with him. Courtesy photo: Ruth Phillips
Tatton was merely an object, not a person, in John’s eyes. Tatton started crawling like every baby does around six months, and once Tatton was mobile, he followed his favorite friend John around — ev-
erywhere. John again scowled, “It’s following me.” Phillips simply shrugged her shoulders while silently smiling, “I don’t know why ... It likes you.” “It took Tatton — that baby, unconditional
love-hero worship — to break through John’s cold heart,” Phillips said smiling, probably picturing the two in her mind. “The first person that John allowed himself to love was that baby that wouldn’t leave him alone, that would follow him no matter where he went. John would walk about as fast as he [could] and then look back to see if [Tatton] would follow.” After the three years with John as her foster child, Phillips had been “sucked” back into the foster care system she had once disowned due to heartbreak. She would never quit again. Before John left Phillips’ care, he had his high school senior pictures. Phillips asked him if he wanted to take along props — such as his skateboard — to have in the pictures. John thought about it for a while and formed the perfect answer. “Can I take Tatton?” “That’s pretty much what kind of sucked us in to 65 kids later, and still, it’s watching those moments … they are so incredible, to see that heart open up and say, ‘Alright, I’ll try vulnerability one more time.’” In the years that would follow, she vowed to foster. Phillips became a social worker to help recruit, license and train foster parents 30 hours a week from 1991 to 1995 with the expanded NOVA program, which added six hours of adoption training and improved the foster care training simultaneously. She resigned from her position at age 30 to pursue her master’s degree in family services at Iowa State. During the pursuit of her master’s, she was fostering six daughters, teacher assisting at the university and maintaining a part-time job at Youth and Shelter Services in Ames. She graduated in 1997 with the optimism needed to continue helping and healing foster teens’ lives. Her next step was working for the Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parent Association changing legislation dealing with the foster care system in the state of Iowa. With this, her voice would finally be heard.
Cyclone Cinema
Government of the Student Body
President declines to sign theater bill
Candidates field questions
By Jessica Opoien Daily Staff Writer Government of the Student Body President Jonathan Turk has decided not to sign the bill passed by the senate to create a student-focused theater. The bill, which calls for the Varsity Theater to be leased and converted into a student-run Cyclone Cinema, passed in a 28–2 vote at last Wednesday’s GSB meeting. Turk’s decision not to veto or approve the bill means it will pass without his support. “I’m supportive of what this project could do, and I believe that this project is a good idea,” Turk said. “Having said that, there are plenty of wonderful, great ideas in the world. That does not necessarily mean that it’s the proper time for those things to come into fruition.” Turk cited concerns with the project’s business plan as a large reason for his decision, explaining that the proposal says, with “optimistic predictions,” the theater will have a $60,000 deficit. “Whatever deficit that is ac-
crued by this theater ... is going to be [passed] down to the student organizations that receive student activity fee money,” Turk said. “I would rather see student organizations spend their money to do what they do, as opposed to us create a venture telling them how their money should be spent.” Another reason behind Turk’s decision was his belief that not enough “objective student opinion gathering” had been done regarding the project proposal. “I do not believe that we have done our job properly to ... accurately gauge, objectively, the student opinion on this campus,” Turk said. Turk referenced the e-mails he had received from students since Friday, voicing their opinions in favor of or in opposition to the bill. The number of e-mails against the bill outnumbered those supporting it. “None of these individuals who wrote objections to this, to me, sounded like they were
see VARSITY on PAGE 4
By Paige Godden Daily Staff Writer Questions asking Government of the Student Body presidential candidates why they chose to run for office and how they found their running mates opened the debates that took place in the Maintenance Shop of the Memorial Union on Monday. Chandra Peterson, the current vice president of GSB, said she wanted to run so she could continue on goals she has already started. “It’s hard to get all of the things I’ve started done in one year; this administration has laid a lot of groundwork for people to build off,” Peterson said. Peterson said she and her running mate, Jacob Wilson, found each other. “We were both looking at running for something — we shared a lot of the same goals — if we had the option we would be co-presidents,” Peterson said. Luke Roling said running for GSB president was his dream since freshman year. “We were two freshmen that, at the end of the year, said that the president looked like a pretty cool guy,” Roling said. “After our sophomore year, we knew we weren’t ready to run.” Roling said after he decided to run, he did look at all his options for vice president, but kept going back to Nate Dobbels. Roling said he and Dobbels were roommates in their freshman year and work well together.
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Peterson
Wilson
Roling
Dobbels
Each pair was asked to name what made it stand out from the opposing ticket, and what its biggest weakness is. Peterson said what sets her apart from her opposition was the relationships she has built throughout the community. She also mentioned her work with Campustown and the city of Ames and founding the Green Umbrella Organization. Peterson said her biggest weakness was her inability to say no, and she believes herself to be a perfectionist, which she sees as a fault. Wilson said what makes his campaign stand out is that the platform lists goals he and Peterson have already accomplished. “We see issues that students care about … and always know where students
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When: 8 p.m. Monday Where: Oak Room, Memorial Union stand,” Wilson said. Wilson said his biggest fault is that he needs to focus on more obtainable goals. “I’m one of those guys who sees a puppy in a shelter and comes home with five,” Wilson said. Wilson said he needs to focus on what will help the future and not just act off of empathy. Roling said he and Dobbels are extremely well-rounded people. “We have developed people skills and interacted with a large population of students,” Roling said. “Don’t take this as Nate and I have done nothing in the past — we’ve done plenty of things with Engineering Council that students probably don’t care about.” Roling said his biggest weaknesses were he has an analytical mind, being an engineer, and a lack of creativity. Roling said he can fix those things by surrounding himself with the right cabinet. Dobbels said what sets him apart is
see DEBATES on PAGE 3