Man
who claims Elvis is father now wants a little less conversation
By
KARY BOOHER Jan 20 2005
"Tim
Farrell mum as he keeps waiting to access singer's DNA"
The
wait has turned to months. The hope to learn the truth is
still there, sure, but the wait is beginning to gnaw at him.
Is he the son of Elvis Presley?
Five
months after he hired an attorney to seek the approval of
the Presley estate to undergo a DNA test, former Jackson resident
Tim Farrell continues to pursue the answer to that question.
And he's gotten about nowhere.
''If
it was Joe Blow next door, we probably would have gotten this
done already,'' Farrell said, speaking from his home in Michigan.
''But it wasn't.''
The
49-year-old Farrell, a 1973 graduate of Jackson Central-Merry
High School, is in pursuit of a DNA test two years after his
mother made a death-bed confession claiming that Elvis was
his father.
However,
Farrell's pursuit has been hampered. He dumped a Tuscumbia,
Ala., attorney, and there has been little to no response from
the Presley estate, as far as Farrell knows. He recently declined
to name his new attorney and was careful with his words. ''I'm
not at liberty to give you a lot,'' Farrell said.
''We're
trying not to be public with this. We want to do it with a
little class.'' But even then, the frustration of the wait
appeared to be weighing on him. ''It's just taking forever,''
he groaned.
From
the start, Farrell figured he would need to present an airtight
case to the Presley estate in order to gain access to Elvis'
DNA. The big hurdle, Farrell and his family acknowledged,
was winning the approval of Lisa Marie Presley, the King's
daughter. Elvis Presley Enterprises says that Elvis' will
lists Lisa Marie as the King's only child and, therefore,
she is the sole heir to the estate. Todd Morgan, a spokesman
for Elvis Presley Enterprises, could not be reached for comment.
It'll
be interesting if Farrell can make his case. He is relying
on a statement from his dying mother that was made with no
one else in the hospital room. Rebecca Holland Stewart died
on Sept. 19, 2002.
Farrell
also will use three other pieces of information as leverage
that he has learned in the time since his mother's death.
His sister, Regina Holland of Tuscumbia, has said their mother
claimed to have had a tryst with Elvis in August 1954 after
he performed at a venue called the Eagle's Nest in Memphis.
The
family also found a dated letter from a Nebraska woman who
responded to his mother's inquiry wondering whether the woman
knew the truth. The family said it also found a dusty address
book that curiously contains names of Presley family members.
According
to a copy of Farrell's birth certificate, his father is listed
as James Farrell, who was a U.S. Navy man. Farrell and his
sister say that man has denied he is the father. The date
on Farrell's birth certificate is April 2, 1955. According
to fan Web sites, Elvis performed twice in Memphis in July
1954 but didn't perform again at the Eagle's Nest until Aug.
7, 1954. That would be eight months before Farrell was born.
Holland,
who has been quick to give information about her brother's
pursuit of the DNA, isn't giving much information now. ''I'm
100 percent positive the agreement is not to go public,''
Holland said.
(News,
Source: JacksonSun.com)
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