X-Message-Number: 22356
From: "aschwin de wolf" <>
Subject: Larry Johnson contacted Laconia's Polidoro in May 
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 10:29:09 -0400

Local author linked to Ted Williams story

Whistleblower contacted Laconia's Polidoro in May
By ED PILOLLA
Monitor staff



http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/local2003/081503_ted_williams_guy_2003.shtml

Sports Illustrated reported this week that the body of baseball great Ted
Williams has been mistreated and some of his DNA is missing at an Arizona
cryonics company. The story hit the newsstands Wednesday, and it has been
retold widely around the world.
But the story might not have been told as it was if not for a little-known
Laconia author.
Jack Polidoro had gained a brief amount of notoriety after authoring a
fictional novel about cloning Williams. The book, Project Samuel, was
published just months before Williams died last year.
Williams's body was shipped to Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona,
where it was cryogenically frozen. The hope was the Red Sox legend might be
brought back to life sometime in the future.
As Williams's children still feuded over what to do with his remains, an
employee of the company quietly phoned Polidoro in May and described what
was happening to the body.
"He wanted to do a book deal with me," Polidoro said yesterday. "I said,
'Why mess with someone like me? I'm not a well-known author.' I told him,
'You don't need me for a book deal, you need to come out and reveal what you
know, and some major publisher will pick you up and you'll be known as the
guy who saved Ted Williams.' "
Polidoro referred the cryogenic company employee, Larry Johnson, to a
Cleveland attorney who is representing Williams's daughter in her efforts to
recover her father's frozen body and have it cremated.
That attorney "had a connection" at Sports Illustrated, Polidoro said.
The attorney, John Heer, did confirm yesterday that Polidoro, who opposes
the freezing of Williams's body, had referred Johnson as a client. However,
Heer would not answer further questions because he had an appointment, he
said. Heer could not be reached for comment later in the day.
Efforts to reach Johnson also were unsuccessful. Johnson, who had been chief
operating officer at Alcor, resigned days before the story ran.
Johnson supplied the magazine with internal company documents, e-mails,
photographs and tape recordings. Johnson told the magazine that surgeons
decapitated Williams's body and suspended both parts in liquid nitrogen.
The Sports Illustrated story said Williams's head had accidentally cracked
10 times after being shaved and drilled with holes.
The company's director, Carlos Mondragon, denied the claims in the story. He
told yesterday that Williams's body had not been mistreated. It had
undergone the normal procedure for cryogenic freezing, he said, and the
cracks in his skull were microscopic.
A spokeswoman for Sports Illustrated, Sheryl Spain, said yesterday the
magazine stands behind the story.
Polidoro said Johnson was "fascinated by the fact that Ted Williams ended up
there . . . He was looking forward to exposing what he considered to be
negative aspects at Alcor and to support the efforts of freeing Ted
Williams."
Polidoro recently severed contact with Johnson. He is upset with Johnson
because, Polidoro said, Johnson had posted "graphic" and "unorthodox"
photographs of Williams on the Internet at freeted.com.
Those photographs had been yanked from the site Wednesday, Polidoro said.
According to , the site briefly offered to give people who donated $20
access to a private site where they could view "extremely disturbing"
photographs documenting Ted Williams's fate. The Web site yesterday posted a
letter, purportedly from Johnson, soliciting donations.
"He sent me an e-mail today and apologized for what he did," Polidoro said,
referring to the photographs. "I am vehemently against what he did. I sent
him a note back, saying I won't be interacting with him in the future.
"The agenda changed," Polidoro explained. "The objective was to free Ted
Williams, get it exposed, and it would result in getting Ted free . . . He
(Johnson) is out of a job. He's gonna need money. And his approach for
looking for money was wrong. And he knows it was wrong."

(Ed Pilolla can be reached at 528-2027 or by e-mail at
)
Friday, August 15, 2003

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