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Williams siblings seek order on Ferrell
By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff, 7/24/2002
Lawyers for John-Henry and Claudia Williams yesterday asked a Florida judge to approve a restraining order against their half-sister Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, who they claim left one of their lawyers a threatening phone message. The siblings also rescinded their six-day-old proposal for court-monitored private mediation with Ferrell, who opposes their decision to freeze Williams's body at an Arizona cryonics warehouse. The developments further complicate the central dispute, a still-pending request by the Ted Williams estate that a Florida court decide the Red Sox legend's final resting place. One potential witness in that case, Ted Williams's estate attorney Eric Abel, yesterday submitted an affidavit claiming Ferrell, who lives nearby, left him the following message on his home answering machine July 6, the day after Williams's death: ''Hello, this is Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, your neighbor behind you. I'm calling for Eric. I find it amazing, Mr. Abel, that you would make a statement like that, about me, to the press, that's gone out into the Internet. Prepare thyself, sir!'' Abel claims in the affidavit that the message left him afraid Ferrell ''would do something directly to my family or our house.'' Based on this affidavit, John-Henry and Claudia Williams yesterday requested an order preventing Ferrell from ''harassing and attempting to intimidate witnesses.'' Ferrell's lawyers yesterday issued a statement with their own explanation: ''Mrs. Ferrell contacted Mr. Abel late on July 6, 2002, almost 36 hours after her father died, in what turned out to be a vain attempt to learn what had happened to her father's body,'' noting that despite Abel's media statements at the time, he ''was unwilling to provide Mrs. Ferrell or her attorney with any information regarding the status of her father's body.'' A hearing on the issue was set for July 30 before Citrus County Judge Patricia V. Thomas. Robert Goldman, a lawyer for John-Henry and Claudia Williams, yesterday said that the siblings, despite expressing regret over the publicity around the case, are prepared for a courtroom battle over their father's body. ''We are now aware and have been made aware that Bobby-Jo has no intention of allowing us to keep this matter private,'' he said. ''If we can't keep it private, we want it to be a fair judicial proceeding with witnesses that have not been harassed.'' Goldman said mediation efforts could be revived at any time.
This story ran on page A4 of the Boston Globe on 7/24/2002.
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he Ted Williams family feud escalated again yesterday as private efforts to reach a settlement dissolved into accusations of harassment and witness intimidation.