Friday, August 8, 2008

08/08/08 The combined circulation of the Time, Advocate and Post will Be newspapers is 137,000 daily, 151,000 Sunday. The Weekies Will Add 53,000 More

"Time" To Say Goodbye ?

Headline:

Say Goodbye To The Greenwich Time And Stamford Advocate

Quotes:

"The Connecticut Post has a long and rich history, and Hearst is committed to continuing that tradition," Hearst Newspapers President George B. Irish said in a statement.

Questions:

Does this mean that the Greenwich Time editor will stop falling asleep at the switch?

Will some of the people that Media News Group fired can get their jobs back? Will some of the CT Post people who were responsible for those people losing their jobs will finally get THEIR jobs removed? Will this mean there will actually be news in the Greenwich Time?

Answer To All The Questions:

Doubtful, but one can dream.

The Story:

Hearst takes over management of Advocate/Greenwich Time

Comment: BTW, The Company also buys Connecticut Post

Greenwich Time

Hearst Corp. has taken over management of Greenwich Time and The Advocate and purchased the Connecticut Post and seven weekly newspapers from MediaNews Group Inc., the companies announced Friday

The weeklies Hearst acquired are the Darien News-Review, Greenwich Citizen, Fairfield Citizen-News, New Canaan News-Review, New Milford Spectrum, Norwalk Citizen-News and Westport News. Hearst also assumed management of The News-Times, a daily newspaper in Danbury....

...Hearst bought The Advocate and Greenwich Time in November for $62.4 million. Since the buildings were not part of the deal, both newspapers, along with The Advocate's Norwalk office, relocated earlier this year. The Connecticut Post was owned by MediaNews....

Please Read The Full Greenwich Time Story

We Hate To Say We Told You So,

But We Told You So....

Please See:

05/13/08 - Heard it Through The Grapevine - Local Newspaper May Be Living On Borrowed Time

The Money Losing And Subscriber Losing Greenwich Time May Became A Local News Bureau Of A Bridgeport News Paper.

Hearst is already printing The Stamford Advocate, The Norwalk Advocate and the The Greenwich Time at the Connecticut Post plant in Bridgeport.

Please Also See:

Hearst buys Connecticut Post, assumes control of News-Time

NewsTimesLive.com

BRIDGEPORT - Hearst Corp. announced Friday it has bought the Connecticut Post and seven non-daily newspapers from Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

MNG Chief Executive Officer Dean Singleton made the announcement to Post staff in the newsroom. It was eight years after Singleton's privately held company bought the Post and five non-dailies from Thomson Newspapers Inc.

Hearst is also taking control of The Advocate of Stamford, Greenwich Time, The News-Times of Danbury and the New Milford Spectrum, which MNG had been managing, through a joint operating agreement. The combined circulation of Hearst's Connecticut properties is 137,000 daily, 151,000 on Sunday and 53,000 non-daily. Brooks Community Newspapers' seven weeklies, the Darien News-Review, Greenwich Citizen, Fairfield Citizen-News, New Canaan News-Review, Norwalk Citizen-News and Westport News are part of the deal.

The Post and the Brooks newspapers employ 350 people.

Singleton said Friday the sale of the Connecticut properties, which Hearst already owned a 40 percent stake in, was to shore up MNG's balance sheet.

"We are selling the Connecticut Post to Hearst and paying down a lot of debt," Singleton said.

New Canaan resident Frank Bennack Jr., Hearst vice chairman and chief executive officer, welcomed staffers of the Post and non-dailies to Hearst. Bennack has returned to the helm of Hearst after a brief retirement.

He has led the privately held company for more than 23 years.

He said the Post is joining a strong company that doesn't have much debt. He also said Hearst will continue to be a partner and investor in MNG. George Irish, president of Hearst Newspapers, said the value of the deal to buy out MNG's interest in the Connecticut newspapers would not be disclosed. Both companies are private.

The Hearst Corp. traces its beginning to 1887, but George Hearst won much of the fortunes that founded the future media empire in western mines, including the Comstock Lode of Nevada. His son, William Randolph Hearst, took over the family's newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner, from which the family built a large media business.

Today, Hearst is a more diversified company with ownership of 16 daily and 49 weekly newspapers as well as interest in 43 daily and 72 non-daily newspapers. It is the publisher of magazines, including Cosmopolitan¸ and the company's Hearst-Argyle Television company has 29 TV stations and an interest in ESPN.

Bennack said he is familiar with the Post and despite the tough environment insisted "newspapers will be viable as far as the eye can see." He said they are too important to the country to be allowed to go extinct, as some industry pundits suggest.

"Newspapers play a vital role in American society," he said. "We're not about to give up on that. Who will watch city hall?"

Robert L. Laska, president and publisher of the Post, said the Hearst Corp. will add "an exciting new dimension to the Connecticut Post family of publications and media Web sites.

"We look forward to continuing the success that the Connecticut group has achieved in its long history, as we confidently face the challenges of the future," Laska said.

The Connecticut Post was established in 1883 as the Bridgeport Post.

It was family owned for years until the Pfriem and Flicker families sold it to Thomson in 1988. Thomson changed the name to Connecticut Post in 1992 and sold it to MNG in 2000.

MNG, the nation's fourth-largest newspaper company, has been struggling with debt accumulated from acquisitions of a few years ago. One deal in particular was valued by some media sources at $1 billion for MNG to acquire several newspapers in California, including the Oakland Tribune and San Jose Mercury News.

Standard & Poor's had recently downgraded MNG's rating to CCC.

But Singleton and Hearst executives also noted this is a difficult time for the entire newspaper industry.

Newspapers across the nation are grappling with lower ad revenues and circulation from its print editions while revenues from Web editions have not been able to make up that gap as competition in the digital world heats up and newspapers go online.

"The newspaper industry has gone through some tough times," Singleton said. "We believe the future of newspapering is bright, but the transition will continue to be painful."

Other newspapers have announced cuts in staff and other cost savings maneuvers in recent months.

Singleton pledged to continue to read the Post and he complimented the work of all departments of the newspaper.

"We have been so proud," he said.

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08/08/08 Greenwich Citizen News Links - The Greenwich Citizen And It's Dog Of A News Website Are Sold Again

Headlines:

Free Greenwich Kitty Box Liner Gets New Owner

Will Editor Don Harrison Be Shown The Door, Because Of How Poor Job That The Citizen Does Of Covering Greenwich?

Is The Greenwich Citizen Webmaster Dusting Off His Resume Today?

Quotes:

"Combined with our existing Connecticut news properties, we see unique potential to provide readers and advertisers with both high-quality and innovative news products," George B. Irish, president of Hearst Newspapers said. "These are valuable markets for local media and we look forward to maximizing the opportunities among the properties using the Internet, packaged advertising sales, niche products and direct mail."

The Story:

Hearst Purchases Connecticut Post

Hearst Corp. has purchased the Connecticut Post and seven weekly newspapers from MediaNews Group Inc....

...The weeklies that Hearst acquired are the Darien News-Review, Greenwich Citizen, Fairfield Citizen-News, New Canaan News-Review, New Milford Spectrum, Norwalk Citizen-News and Westport News....

Please Read The Full Greenwich Citizen Article

Please Also See:

Denver Post owner sells Connecticut papers

Bizjournals.com

MediaNews Group, owner of The Denver Post, has sold a daily newspaper and several weeklies it owns in Connecticut in a deal that the Denver-based newspaper chain says will help it “manage its balance sheet” at a time when the newspaper industry is struggling.

The Bridgeport, Conn.-based Connecticut Post and seven weekly papers in that state were sold to New York-based Hearst Corp., a national media company that owns a minority share of privately held MediaNews, the two companies announced in a statement Friday.

Hearst also will assume management of three other dailies it already owns, in Stamford, Greenwich and Danbury, Conn., that were previously run by MediaNews.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But the Associated Press, citing “a person with direct knowledge of the deal,” reported the purchase price was $155 million — less than the $205 million that MediaNews reportedly paid to buy the Connecticut Post in 2000.....

08/08/08 County residents who are tired of the greed, violence, drugs, gangs and other wonders Fairfield County are heading to Greener pastures

Ffld. County gains $, loses people

Despite being home to the most affluent metropolitan area in the nation, Fairfield County is seeing more people move out than move in.

The U.S. Commerce Department released two reports today tracking the fortunes in money and people of the nation's counties.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said the Bridgeport-Stamford area had per capita income of $80,192 in 2007, the highest in the United States.

Per capita income is the total amount of income earned by all residents divided by the region's total number of residents.

The BEA said residents in the Stamford-Bridgeport region, which includes Greenwich, earned more than $71 billion in 2007. That's up from $66 billion earned in 2006.

The Naples, Fla., region ranked a distant second in 2007, with per capita income of $61,788.

The Hartford region ranked 17th with per capita income of $47,641 and the New Haven-Milford area ranked 33rd with $43,820.

The BEA ranks only the metropolitan areas with population of more than 100,000.

While money flowed into Fairfield County in 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau said residents flowed from the region. Fairfield County was the state's only county to have more people move out than in since the 2000 Census.

The Census Bureau said between 2000 and 2007, 19,938 people moved out of Fairfield County. The only reason the county gained population was due to births during that period. There were 86,025 babies born in the county since 2000.

Fairfield County remained the most populous county in the state, with 895,015 residents in 2007. It ranked 53rd nationally.

Hartford County, with a population of 876,824, ranked 54th in the nation and New Haven, with a population of 845,494 ranked 58th.

Source: Connecticut Post

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08/08/08 Amazing that the Delta Airlines headline is Darien and New Canaan but the article is all about Greenwitch

It’s entirely possible that certain streets in Darien and New Canaan are closer to the true epicenter of preppiness. But Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Connecticut, will nicely suffice for provisioning and study.

By Mary Alice Kellogg

(Is this really her name or some kind of snooty pen name. At least she is not Mary Alice Rockefeller)

You may have wondered why some people feel moved to put whales and lobsters all over their clothing, why for them a certain faded shade of raspberry sherbet seems an all-purpose palette for shirts, shorts, jackets and ball caps, why Top-Siders and Patagonias are de rigueur, just as socks in almost any weather are not. And if that’s what you’ve wondered, you’ve come to the right avenue to make some observations.

Start humming the fight song of Choate or Deerfield or any other of America’s most elite prep schools, and there’s a good chance that someone on Greenwich Avenue will start humming it, too. We’re not really recommending that; we just want you to know that if you wish to immerse yourself in a preppy Promised Land, everything you need is here.

To call it a “bedroom” community of New York (a 37-minute train ride away) is an understatement; Greenwich is more of a bastion of Old Money and lots of New—more than $120 billion of the world’s hedge funds are managed here.

And it would be easy to write Greenwich off as stuffy; after all, this was the filming location for the remake of The Stepford Wives. But the village boasts charm and tradition among the grand homes and estates, with a thriving cultural scene, camera-ready countryside and four pristine beaches on Long Island Sound.

Full Story At: Delta Sky

Comment:

Stepford Wives was filed where?

Would someone please tell Ms. Mary Alice Kellogg that Mary Alice Kellogg that the film was shot in Darien And New Canaan.

What makes Ms. Mary Alice Kellogg in Greenwich in noway wants to be associated with this remake flop.

This film was notorious for the numerous production problems that occurred throughout its shooting schedule. The tension started when both John Cusack and Joan Cusack, originally slated to star in supporting roles, pulled out of the project and were replaced by Matthew Broderick and Bette Midler, respectively. After filming was initially completed, several changes were made to the new script, which created a number of plot holes, and the cast was called back for reshoots. Reports of problems onset between director Frank Oz and stars Nicole Kidman and Bette Midler were rampant in the press. Kidman was reportedly so dissatisfied with the new screenplay that she considered pulling out of the project. In recent interviews, Kidman, Matthew Broderick and producer Scott Rudin have all expressed regret for participating in this project.

In an interview with Ain't It Cool, Frank Oz's take on the film was "I f**ked up... I had too much money, and I was too responsible and concerned for Paramount. I was too concerned for the producers. And I didn't follow my instincts."

Anyway, if you have some free time you can launch Delta's interactive map, and hope that it is more accurate than their feature story.

Also featured this month in our Interactive Map

Avenida
Betteridge Jewelers
Cocoon
Diane’s Books
EuroChasse
Graham’s
Greenwich Kitchen Works
Kimono Art
Mediterraneo
Papyrus
Richard’s
Vineyard Vines

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08/08/08 But Where Are We Going To Sleep?

BRWS Still Needs Host Families

The Post-Journal, Jamestown New York

The Babe Ruth World Series is still looking for eight host families for the upcoming world series that begins on Aug. 16.

The kids will arrive on Thursday Aug. 14. The teams are coming from Greenwich, Conn.; Youngstown, Ohio; Metro New York City; Thurston County, Wash.; Bryant, Ark.; Greenville, N.C.; Westchester, Calf.; ...

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08/08/08 Greenwich Post News Link For Fri

Soapbox bonding

Steve and Axel Mark work on their soapbox derby car Saturday at Miller Motor Sports in preparation for the Sept. 14 race, which will pit 24 Greenwich youngsters in head-to-head competition. For a video of Saturday’s event visit our Web site this weekend. — David Ames photo

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08/08/08 Greenwich Time News Links For Friday

TOP STORY

HEADLINES:

Greenwich's Teen Drug Problem Visits Board Of Education Members Household

Now Maybe The Greenwich Board Of Education Will Pull It's Head Out Of The Sand And Wake Up To The Town's Teenage Drug Problem

QUOTE:

"It's embarrassing," Michael Bodson, a Republican in his first full term on the Board of Education said. "He's my son and I'm proud of him, but he made a bad mistake."

THE STORY:

Four nabbed in drug bust

Four young people, including the son of a Board of Education member, were arrested Sunday night in a drug bust on a private road near the Merritt Parkway.

While investigating a report around 11:15 p.m. of a light on in an unoccupied home on Stallion Trail off North Street, police questioned four individuals in parked cars.

Tyler Herrmann, 19, of 14 Walnut St., Cos Cob; Frank Chiodi, 19, of 41 Meyer Place, Riverside; Daniel Bodson, 19, of 19 Holly Way, Greenwich; and Ashley Sabia, 21, of 9 Fado Lane, Stamford, were all charged with possession of marijuana, according to a police report.

Herrmann was also charged with intent to sell marijuana, driving under the influence of alcohol and possession of liquor by a minor, the report said.

Chiodi was charged additionally with intent to sell marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, the report said.

Bodson faces additional charges of intent to sell marijuana and possession of liquor by a minor. He is the son of Michael Bodson, a Republican in his first full term on the Board of Education.

"It's embarrassing," Michael Bodson said. "He's my son and I'm proud of him, but he made a bad mistake."

Bodson said he hopes the community will give his son a second chance.

Bodson's son was a passenger in a Toyota Camry, driven by Herrmann, in which drugs and alcohol were found, Allen said.

During a search of the trunk, police discovered a plastic bag with 10 smaller baggies containing about 20 grams of marijuana....

Please Read The Full Greenwich Time Story

Comment:

Greenwich Time reporter Mr. Vigdor has delivered yet another incomplete article.

Was a field sobriety test given to these "Back Country" boys from privileged families?
If a test was given what were the results.
This information is routinely provided for out of towners and poorer members of Greenwich society.
When this information is selectively reported or given out it makes the Greenwich Police Department look corrupt and the Greenwich Time look inept.

The Bodson Family Was Very Lucky, This Time

Please see:

Grave Indifference Contributed to Death of John J. Bria

Please read the other Greenwich Time news stories:

Getting ready for back-to-school

It was a telltale sign that the lazy days of summer are almost over and the workaday routines of the school year are just about to begin.

Lunden camps out to help relieve women's stress

Despite leaving the limelight more than 10 years ago, life for Joan Lunden, 57, is still as busy as ever.

Off Beat Players put their own spin on 'Nunsense'

Standing on stage in a a monk's robe, Blues Brothers hat and glasses, Max Schroeger, 24, added a new comical element to a play about nuns.

Police blotter

Lawrence Feldman, 76, of 306 West Lyon Farm Drive, was charged late Monday night with driving under the influence of alcohol, according to a police report.

Feldman struck an unoccupied vehicle with his car on Hamilton Avenue around 11:50 p.m., according to the report, which said he was involved in an earlier accident on Interstate 95 southbound but told police he could not recall the incident because he had taken a sleeping pill.

At the scene of the second accident, Feldman smelled of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test, the report said.

He was released on $250 cash bond and scheduled to appear Aug. 18 in state Superior Court in Stamford.

*************************************

A New York City man was arrested Monday afternoon for trying to sell pirated DVDs and CDs at Volkswagen of Greenwich at 200 West Putnam Ave.

Jian Xu, 40, of 178 Avenue D, was charged with peddling without a permit and failure to have a tax stamp or tax identification number, according to a police report.

When police officers approached Xu, he dropped a black bag on the ground that contained 143 pirated DVDs and 32 pirated CDs. They arrested him at 11:23 a.m.

He was held in lieu of $250 cash bond and scheduled to appear Aug. 11 in state Superior Court in Stamford.

************************************

Two men were arrested last Friday afternoon for fighting at Greenwich Point Park.

Kyle Casuto, 26, of 115 Bowman Drive, Greenwich, and Bruce Nicholas, 19, of 15 Highview Ave., Old Greenwich, were both charged with third-degree assault and breach of peace, according to a police report.

It was unclear what started the fight, which took place around 7 p.m.

Both men were released after promising to appear today in state Superior Court in Stamford.

Greenwich advances to Babe Ruth World Series

WESTFIELD, Mass. - There was plenty of thunder and some lightning Thursday, and only some of it originated from the dark clouds surrounding the baseball diamond at Bullens Field.

Fix highway fund without tax hike

Say it isn't so. There's been a steady flow of reports out of the nation's Capitol that members of Congress are quietly talking behind the scenes about raising federal fuel taxes by 10 cents a gallon.

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08/08/08 Is Frank Girardot Is Wondering Why The Lazy Greenwich Time Reporters Have Not Called Him Asking About The Fake Rockeffeler?

Greenwich Time Crime Reporter Martin Cassidy should take a look at the Crime Scene blog.

Reporter and blogger Frank Girardot is a real crime reporter who puts you behind the yellow tape with takes on true crime, cold cases and more.

Frank Girardot: Man's arrest opens bi-coastal mystery

It's Wednesday afternoon and I've been on the phone all morning.

Seems that reporters on the East Coast can't get enough of the Clark Rockefeller story and his possible connection to a couple reported missing in San Marino way back in 1985.

Rockefeller is accused of violently abducting his 7-year-old daughter from a home in Boston on July 27. The two vanished only to resurface in Baltimore last week. Rockefeller had already assumed a new identity there as "Chip" Smith, a local Realtor.

There's a strong suspicion that Rockefeller was once known as Christopher Chichester, who lived with the missing San Marino couple and disappeared when they did.

There's also a strong suspicion among law enforcement that he was known as "Christopher Crowe," "Christopher Mountbatten," and "Christian Gerhard Streider." But there's also a resignation of sorts that no one knows who Chichester really is - or was - or may be now.

Through the ensuing 23 years, rumors have persisted about the missing couple, John and Linda Sohus. John's mother, Didi, told investigators her son and daughter-in-law were on a secret mission.

In 1989, Chichester briefly resurfaced in another tony enclave - Greenwich, Conn. He was in possession of John Sohus' truck.

Then he vanished - just as neatly. Almost forgotten really, until the bones were discovered.

In 1994, nine years after John and Linda Sohus disappeared, a pool contractor unearthed a bag of bones in the backyard of the Lorain Road home where John and Linda Sohus and Chichester once lived.

Although they were ravaged by the passage of time and cracked by the powerful blade of a backhoe, detectives believed the bones might belong to John Sohus. They named Chichester as a person of interest and searched the world over for the slightly built man of mystery.

More stories surfaced. There were rumors of a love triangle that estranged the "good looking, big-hipped" Linda and her "computer nerd" husband, John, even though the couple shared an interest in science fiction and fantasy stories.

Since then a portion of the remains have been stored in a basement office at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner. They've been studied and analyzed by Steve Dowell, the nation's top forensic tool mark specialist.

He believes the skull of the dead man was crushed with a blunt object like a two-by-four.

Then again, "he could have done a lot of coke and fallen off a bar stool and suffered an injury like that," Dowell said. "But that's a shot in the dark. Because there was an effort to bury and conceal the body, this death is classified as a homicide."

That said, the remains have never been formally identified as John's. Even though the O.J. Simpson prosecution relied heavily on DNA evidence, in 1994 the science was still in its infancy, Dowell said. There was no way back then to extract DNA from skeletal remains.

No effort was made either to compare dental records.

There is no easy answer as to what happened to Linda Sohus.

Neither John nor Linda nor Chichester resurfaced. The case turned cold.

Frank Girardot is metro editor of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group.

08/08/08 Hey, Greenwich Time, "The FBI Has Visited The Greenwich Police Department And Is Scouring Connecticut For Clues About The Fake Rockefeller."

Christian Reiter, also known by authorities as Streiter, attended Berlin High School in Connecticut in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Clark Rockefeller probe points to Germany
Boston Herald

By Laurel J. Sweet, Jessica Van Sack and Jessica Fargen

The web of lies spun by the man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller may be close to unraveling, as a school transcript possibly linked to him leads not to any grand American, British or European lineage, but to a small resort town in Germany’s Bavarian Alps.

A 1978 10th-grade report card obtained by the Herald yesterday for a Christian Gerhartsreiter of Siegsdorf, who would now be 47, an apparent German national the FBI suspects is accused Boston kidnapper Clark Rockefeller, suggests the youth described by acquaintances as a snooty, self-aggrandizing exchange student was a mediocre scholar.

Under the German educational tracking system that placed him in a business trade school, he might have been bound for an unremarkable career in middle management, rather than international notoriety.

But a seemingly prescient note on the transcript adds that Gerhartsreiter was “interested in many facets of life.” Police and agents from California to Germany are now interested in many facets of the tight-lipped Rockefeller’s life. The man being held for allegeldy abducting his 7-year-old daughter in Boston last week has been linked to Christopher Chichester of San Marino, Calif., named as a person of interest in a young couple’s 1985 disappearance there. Chichester is linked to the student variously known as Gerhartsreiter, Streiter and Reiter, as well as to would-be Wall Street broker Christopher Crowe.

Please See:

08/07/08 For Days Newspapers around the world are reporting about the fake Rockeffeller, but the Greenwich Time and the local newspapers are clueless

Please Also See:

The Suspect Known as Clark Rockefeller on Wall Street

Universal Hub

Dave Copeland, who knows something about criminals and New York, makes some calls to learn about "Rockefeller's" less than illustrious career on Wall Street back in the Gordon Gekko days:

... But after two days at Lehman, Rockefeller told his supervisors that he needed to take time off to search for his parents, who he said had gone missing in Afghanistan. Sources said Rockefeller – who told co-workers at Nikko he was film director Christoher Crowe – was dismissed by Lehman. Rockefeller even invited co-workers to the Greenwich, Conn. guest house he was renting for screenings of “his” movies. Rockefeller claimed he was living in the guest house because his own home was being renovated, a claim that co-workers assumed was one of his tall tales.

Within days of his dismissal from Lehman, Connecticut State Police detectives arrived at the offices of both Lehman and Nikko looking to question Rockefeller. ...

One guess what they might have wanted to question him about. Yep.

The Boston Herald Article Continues:

Rockefeller’s attorney Stephen Hrones said his captured client only remembers “bits and pieces, here and there” of his life prior to appearing on New York’s social scene in the early 1990s, posing as a scion of the wealthy American clan. But Hrones said he has no plans to have Rockefeller tested by mental-health experts.

“It’s early in the game,” Hrones said. “I’m sure things are going to play out. The strategy is going to have to change as we go along.”

Hrones, meanwhile, is denying cops and the feds access to Rockefeller at Nashua Street Jail.

FBI Boston Special Agent Damon Katz called it “a very interesting story, in part because of the details,” but otherwise declined to comment yesterday on the case, citing a “pending investigation.”

The German Foreign Office is trying to determine whether Gerhartsreiter is in fact German, according to a spokeswoman.

He told his hosts in Berlin, Conn., in the late 1970s and early 1980s he was the son of a German industrialist, though one host was told by an investigator later his father was a house painter. His German transcript, on file at Berlin High School, portrayed him as a graduate of a three-year business school in Traunstein, near Siegsdorf, of the sort German students headed for management jobs would attend after middle school instead of going to a formal high school. It graded him as merely “sufficient” in commerical math and economics - fourth on a six-grade scale, just above “deficient” and “unsatisfactory,” but below “very good,” “good,” and “satisfactory.”

His “English and Commerical English” was marked “good,” his history and sociology “very good,” and other business-related subjects only “satisfactory.”

The German transcript states he was born Feb. 21, 1961, in Siegsdorf, a small Bavarian ski resort.

Rockefeller, who has no Social Security number, birth record or driver’s license and never filed his 1995 marriage certificate, declares his date of birth to be Feb. 29, 1960.

Locally, police and prosecutors are said to be assisting Los Angeles-area detectives in trying to pinpoint if Rockefeller is also Christopher Chichester, a man sought for questioning since 1985 in the disappearance of San Marino, Calif., newlyweds John and Linda Sohus and John’s presumed murder. A body thought to be his was found in 1994 but has never been positively identified.

“The investigation remains very active and grows more focused by the day,” said Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, whose office is holding Rockefeller without bail in the July 27 kidnapping of his daughter, Reigh “Snooks” Storrow Mills Boss, from the Back Bay.

As for how Snooks and Rockefeller’s ex-wife, Sandra Lynne Boss, 41, both of London, are coping, Wark said Boss has “requested their privacy. We’re accommodating that request.”

Photocopy Gallery:

Cristian Gerhartsreiter school records.

Conn. townspeople leery of German visitor

The principal of a Connecticut high school Cristian Gerhartsreiter attended as a German exchange student said he didn’t leave an impression, but those he bunked with tell a different story.

Gerhartsreiter - a German national whom the FBI believes is accused kidnapper Clark Rockefeller - attended Berlin High School for one year in 1979 to attain a level of English proficiency, classmates said.

“He didn’t leave his mark on the school,” said the current principal, George J. Synnott.

But he did apparently leave his mark on the yearbook, a copy of which in the school’s library still bears a signature on the second page: “Chris Gerharts Reiter.”

Steve Savio, 39, said his mother answered a classified ad in the Journal-Register newspaper from a teen calling himself a German exchange student. He recalled Gerhartsreiter, who slept on their couch before moving into their basement, as a high-maintenance house guest.

“He was mad at us because we made him do his own laundry,” Savio said. “He was expecting to be served.”

Savio located a picture - he’s not sure if it’s Gerhartsreiter - showing a teen in a blue polo shirt at a function in the high school gymnasium, whistle in mouth and clad in a bandana in the school’s colors.

Savio said Gerhartsreiter claimed his passport spelled his name wrong and his mother took him to obtain a driver’s license with a different name: Reiter.

One classmate who asked to remain anonymous said Gerhartsreiter enjoyed film and would talk of remaking Alfred Hitchcock classics. The school librarian, who also asked to remain anonymous because of the FBI’s inquiries, said he “thought he would be the next Steven Spielberg.”

Prior to moving in with the Savios, Gerhartsreiter said he had lived with a Connecticut couple he had met while they were vacationing in Germany, Savio said.

The charming teen exchanged addresses with the couple. Months later he showed up on their doorstep looking for a place to stay, Savio said.

He then moved in with the Savios - until he locked little Maria Savio out of the house in the dead of winter, Steve Savio said.

“My sister was scared of him,” Savio said. “I just want to make sure this clown doesn’t get out.”

Savio said Gerhartsreiter would call his mother Gwendolyn for years after he left Connecticut to “brag” about his success in various enterprises, including film.

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