Anthoefer's Final Paternity Hearing Set for Oct.26.2006 An old friend will be returning to Weston on October 18 for the final court appearance in a nearly decade-long battle to be declared the son of the Louie Craig. He has been searching for his father for nearly three decades. Franz Anthoefer will be returning with his ailing 85 year-old mother to appear before Family Court Judge Robert Reed Sowa on October 26 to finally find out whether he can legally call himself the son of the late Louie G. Craig. "I want to be recognized as my father's son," Anthoefer said. "I have been fighting for this, most of my life." "I will not give up," he added. Anthoefer first came to Weston to seek out his father in 1996, only to find that he had been dead for many years. Craig died November 11, 1971. On September 12, 1996, Circuit Judge Thomas H. Keadle granted a petition by Anthoefer to have Craig's body exhumed from the Peterson Cemetery for DNA testing. A femur bone was taken, after the November 1, 1996 exhumation, to the Brigham Young University in Utah where it was tested. It took several years, rather than the four to six weeks planned, to determine the results. Results of the DNA testing were not made public until 1999. According to Anthoefer, the results indicated that there was a 99.93 match of his DNA to the late Weston Mayor Louie Craig. Because of his German nationality, the West Virginia Medical Examiner's office was involved, Anthoefer said. While there were no objections at the time, R. Russell Stobbs is now representing the respondents in the case. "It's strange that it is now being opposed, when it was not before," he said. Anthoefer, who cannot afford an attorney at this time, is representing himself. The 55 year-old is looking forward to his day in family court. Anthoefer was deported from the United States in June 1997 after his existing visa expired. He has struggled since then to obtain a visa to return to Weston. He has battled both the United States and German governments to gain permission to return. He was arrested June 2, 1997, by immigration officials, one day before the Weston City Election in which he was running as a mayoral candidate, under the name of Louis Craig Jr. Anthoefer, who went on a hunger strike while he was in the custody of federal officials pending deportation, finished fourth in the five-candidate race for mayor. He raised a stir upon his arrival in Weston in 1996 when he launched a campaign to bring attention to his efforts to have Craig declared his legal father as the result of a romantic encounter Craig had with Anthoefer's mother in the early 1950s in Germany. He also seeks a place to stay here in Weston with his mother, who is diabetic and rides in a wheel chair. "I need a place for my mother and I to stay," Anthoefer said. "I will take car of her. She just needs a place where I can care for her." His mother suffers from diabetes. He noted that because of his mother's dependence on a wheel chair, that the location needed to be wheel-chair accessible. Additionally, internet access would also be helpful for his continuing research to represent himself in court. "I must attend this hearing or it will be dismissed forever," he said. "I am happy to be coming back to Weston. My father's hometown, my hometown," he said. Anthoefer can be reached by telephone at 011-49-228-2599-762 or by e-mail at anthoefer@yahoo.com. He would appreciate anyone who would be willing to help him find a place to stay while he is here, so that he can care for his mother. www.westondemocrat.com/localnews.htm