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When I was a tiny person, my mother divorced my father and when I was about two, she married this other guy. By the time I went to school I had no knowledge that he was not my real father.

Early on in second grade I was pulled into the school office and informed that I was using the wrong name. I had NO IDEA what in hell they meant. So, the lady bluntly told me that the man my mother was married to, whose last name I had thought to be my own, was NOT my father, but was a step-father that had not adopted me.

I still remember that clearly - it is one of the very few clear memories that I have from my childhood.

I mostly remember the flood of joy - because my step father was a monstrous bastard and I hated him by that time.

Anyway, she told me my true last name. My mother had never even hinted about this to me, so I was stunned.

But you see, this was in the mid-sixties. I was not adopted by this wretch, and had been using the last name when I should not have been.

I lived in a tiny, very rural area of Virginia. I went to a school that had seven rooms for grades one through twelve.

Yet they discovered that I was using the wrong last name and that I had been fraudulently registered.

Just saying.

Anyway, she told me my true last name. My mother had never even hinted about this to me, so I was stunned.
But you see, this was in the mid-sixties. I was not adopted by this wretch, and had been using the last name when I should not have been.
I lived in a tiny, very rural area of Virginia. I went to a school that had seven rooms for grades one through twelve.
Yet they discovered that I was using the wrong last name and that I had been fraudulently registered.

Just saying.

At this point, I think very few people know the actual truth. It's possible that Barry was never adopted under either Hawaiian law, or Indonesian law, although from what i've read it is automatic under Indonesian law, but that could be wrong.

I believe there has to be an explanation for all the games that Barry has been playing with his birth certificate (other than just wanting to jerk people around) and the adoption theory seems to fit decently. I am willing to entertain any theories that will help to understand what is going on with this guy's past and credentials. I'm not sure if discovering a "smoking gun" will make any difference at this point, but I find this puzzle intriguing, in the manner of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Mystery of Marie Roget." I very much appreciate the efforts that you and others have gone through to get to the bottom of this enigma.

Anyway, she told me my true last name. My mother had never even hinted about this to me, so I was stunned.
But you see, this was in the mid-sixties. I was not adopted by this wretch, and had been using the last name when I should not have been.
I lived in a tiny, very rural area of Virginia. I went to a school that had seven rooms for grades one through twelve.
Yet they discovered that I was using the wrong last name and that I had been fraudulently registered.

Just saying.

At this point, I think very few people know the actual truth. It's possible that Barry was never adopted under either Hawaiian law, or Indonesian law, although from what i've read it is automatic under Indonesian law, but that could be wrong.

I believe there has to be an explanation for all the games that Barry has been playing with his birth certificate (other than just wanting to jerk people around) and the adoption theory seems to fit decently. I am willing to entertain any theories that will help to understand what is going on with this guy's past and credentials. I'm not sure if discovering a "smoking gun" will make any difference at this point, but I find this puzzle intriguing, in the manner of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Mystery of Marie Roget." I very much appreciate the efforts that you and others have gone through to get to the bottom of this enigma.