There and back again see SPORTS on PAGE 10
February 17, 2010, Volume 204 >> Number 102 >> 40 cents >> iowastatedaily.com >> An independent newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
WEDNESDAY
Foster Family
The more the merrier
Editor’s note: This story is the final story in the series on Ruth Phillips and her journey to becoming a birth mom of four, adoptive mom of six and a foster mom of more than 65. The Phillips family resides in Story City, Iowa but Ruth works in the Ames area. By Jennifer Dryden Special to the Daily
Ruth Phillips’ house has been a haven for more than 65 foster children — mostly teenagers — looking for guidance, love and a new start in life. Now Ruth says her family is almost complete. Wednesday marks the adoption day at the Story County courthouse for her final two foster daughters. The adoption of ManDee, 20, and Brittany, 18, will tally numbers nine and 10 for the Phillips children. Ruth has adopted six children, and birthed four ranging in age of her first adoptive daughter, Julie, 22, to her last birth daughter, Talyn, 9. Once she marries her fiance Bill Buckels, of Gilbert, she’ll bring the final number to 11 with the adoption of Bill’s adoptive son, Adam, 15. Without Ruth’s voice in the Iowa legislation as part of the Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parent Association, these adoptions wouldn’t be possible. The Concurrent Plan allows foster parents to adopt their foster children if reuniting the child with their biological parents or a biological relative is not possible after extensive efforts. This is the exact situation Ruth’s adoptive children found themselves in. Although now the house is filled with smiles and brotherly-sisterly love, each child who steps through the door has a story to tell, including the “three Ds” — DJ, 17, Demi, 15, and Dalani, 11. Ruth adopted this sibling group in November 2009 after their hardship of being adopted and given up again. “We got adopted and things went wrong and so then they put my brother and sister in a shelter home and I came here,” Dalani said.. “Ruth said a kid doesn’t have that much power to make the family not want you and so, then I understood that
Ruth Phillips will have a full family of 12 children on Wednesday after the official adoption of her final two daughters. Phillips housed and cared for more than 65 foster children in her lifetime. Photos: Rashah McChesney/Iowa State Daily
... because I thought it was my fault. When I came here, I was happy because I could start a new life.” Once Ruth found out that Dalani had an older brother and sister, she vowed to reunite and adopt them. “If I get those kids, they’re going to be Phillips’,”
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Ruth said, remembering her exact wording when talking to Bill the first day with Dalani. After the required 180 days in foster care, Ruth started to arrange the adoption. Demi remembers one of her first days reunited with DJ and Dalani in the Phillips’ home.
“Ruth came and said God showed her a sign that we were the three that completed her family,” she said, smiling and huffing a small sigh of relief. No sibling lines are drawn in the Phillips home.
see ADOPTION on PAGE 3
Student Activities
Turk vetoes Veishea allows involvement SAE Club bill By Matt Wettengel Daily Staff Writer
By Paige Godden Daily Staff Writer Jon Turk, Government of the Student Body president, vetoed a bill that allocated Turk $4,530.96 to Iowa State’s SAE Club, which received money from the Engineering Student Council earlier in the year. The bill, written by engineering senator Dan Finnegan, was proposed to help fund trips to competitions in California and Washington, in which the club will enter cars it has built. At last Wednesday’s meeting, the bill was originally called out-of-order by Vice President Chandra Peterson because the club had received funding from the Engineering Student Council and because it is affiliated with a certain major — both of which are against the GSB by-laws. The out-of-order ruling was then overturned by the senate, and the money was again set to be allocated. Turk said he vetoed the bill because he wanted to make sure the senators knew what they were voting for. Turk said the club received the funding from the Engineering Student Council last semester, which is part of this fiscal year, so the money should still count as money received by another council.
It will take a motion from a senator, then a two-thirds vote from all seated senators to override the veto. If a senator is not seated at the time of the vote, or abstains from voting, his or her vote will count as a no vote. Wednesday night’s meeting will also include the final vote on funding campus directory maps. A representative from facilities planning and management attended last week’s meeting to ask the senate to update the various maps located around campus. The representative asked for $7,000 to replace the maps, which are usually replaced every two years but haven’t been replaced since 2006. The bill was referred to the rules committee after debate on whether or not it was a good use of students’ money to fund the maps, and whether or not it was GSB’s job to fund them. This week’s meeting will be the first with the newly created Sergeant at Arms position. Luke Roling was appointed to the position last week after Speaker of the Senate Michael Weber informed the Senate that senators’ use of social networking sites to discuss bills during meetings is in violation of Iowa’s Open Meetings, Open Records handbook. By communicating through social networking sites, not all debate was being put on the official record. Roling’s job will be to limit the debate senators have on networking sites.
Students have many opportunities to partake in Veishea 2010 and help the Iowa State and Ames community at the same time. Whether interested in participating in community service activities, like Keep Veishea Service Day, Stash the Trash or Keep Iowa State Beautiful, or traditional student competitions, like Battle of the Bands, Veishea Says I’m Funny or Cyclone Idol, activities are available for many interest groups this spring. Service Projects The service projects began in 2004, the year Veishea was cancelled, as a way to show that Veishea can give back to the community. Veishea’s Campus and Community Involvement Committee has been planning several activities for this year, featuring new, larger projects. The committee has partnered with established groups, like the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Lutheran Services in Iowa and Habitat for Humanity to provide larger scale projects for students to volunteer in. The hope is that the partnerships and larger projects will work out better for students and allow everyone who wants to get involved do so. “In the past we would do something like paint someone’s fence, and there were a lot of reasons that those projects didn’t work. People wouldn’t be able to find the address, so they wouldn’t come or different things like that,” said Tanner Howard, campus and community involvement committee co-chair. “I’m excited for the opportunities with the large scale projects. These projects show that Ames students and the community can come together for the general betterment of the community.” Some of the projects of Veishea Service Day include cleaning up Ledges State Park and planting a community garden at Beloit Children’s Home. Apart from the projects organized through Veishea Service
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Erin Hedley, bassist and vocalist for band named River and the Tributaries, performs in Veishea Battle of the Bands on April 16, 2009. File photo: Gene Pavelko/Iowa State Daily
Day, Stash the Trash and Keep Iowa State Beautiful are also sponsored community cleanup projects that students can volunteer in to beautify Ames. Stash the Trash focuses on the cleaning of city parks, while Keep Iowa State Beautiful focuses on campus cleanup. All of the projects are open to students, as well as members of the Ames community, and they all take place on March
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27. The committee works with the greek community and provides points to greek volunteers’ houses for their annual Greek Week competition, but this year they hope to see more involvement from residents of the residence halls. “It’s cool to see members of the community, young and old, working together
see VEISHEA on PAGE 3