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Anthoefer Denied Legal Claim as Louie Craig's Son
Franz Anthoefer, 55, returned, from Germany, with his ailing 85 year-old mother, who has been hospitalized in Clarksburg, to appear before Family Court Judge Robert Reed Sowa, this past week, to finally find out whether he can legally call himself the son of the late Louie G. Craig. Apparently the court disagreed with the 55 year-old Anthoefer as his request was denied by Sowa. In his ruling, Sowa said that too much time had passed to allow the petition. Apparently, Athoefer should have made his case by the time he turned 21, the age set under the statue of limitations. He did not seek legal recognition until 2001. Anthoefer is now in the process of hiring a lawyer to appeal Sowa's decision to circuit court and possibly the West Virginia Supreme Court. He has two weeks after receiving the final order to appeal the decision to circuit court. "I want to be recognized by West Virginia as the son of Louie Craig," he said. "I cannot call Louie Craig my father," Anthoefer said. "I will not give up. I am now representing 100,000 Germans." "It was not my intention in the begining, but that is what I am doing now," he said. The 100,000 Germans he is refering to, are the other children of American soldiers denied citizenship in America. According to Anthoefer, the emotional strain has been great on both his mother and him. He attributes the stress as to why his mother, Babette, had to be hospitalized. She will remain in the hospital until at least Thursday. "It's been very hard on her," he said. The hopeful West Virginian is also now looking for an apartment in Weston or Lewis County. "I love West Virginia," he said. "People just don't know how lucky they are to be in West Virginia." "I'm very glad to be here in West Virginia," 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 Brigham Young University in Utah where it was tested, though 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 was appointed to represent the respondents in the case. Stobbs had argued that the case should be dismissed because of the length of time that has gone by. |