Anna Nicole Smith Is Still Big Business, Even After Death

NASSAU, Bahamas, March 22, 2007 — -- Kneeling down on the edge of a dusty road, 67-year-old Carolyn Flowers is very focused, assiduously at work. She's picking up pieces of gravel on the edge of the cemetery where Anna Nicole Smith is buried. "I have a friend who's going to sell it for me on eBay."

The retiree from Marshall, Ill., has stopped on Nassau with a tour group from her Royal Caribbean cruise. "I wanted to see where Anna Nicole was buried. I have been following her story very carefully, the details are so interesting."

The white van waiting for Flowers and her gang is driven by Bahamian Tiger Major, sporting a blue-on-blue uniform with his name "Tiger" inscribed over his lapel. Major flashed a big, white smile and held up a sign: "Anna Nicole's Estates Tour."

"I take them here to the graveyard, then to Anna's house, then to Doctor's Hospital where Anna's son Daniel died," Major explained. He charges $25 dollars a head, and says business is booming during the busy "spring break" season.

Major profits from Smith, but many people here in this conservative, well-mannered society are offended by the mess that has descended on their islands. Some locals believe the whole scandal surrounding Smith's death is a stain on their way of life and their image. An office cleaner who would only give us her nickname "Babs" says that ever since Smith arrived, "her beautiful, peaceful island" has been disrupted by an outside force.

"There is a devil loose on this island. It got into Anna Nicole .. and it got loose in the house of parliament, made Mr. Shane (Gibson, the former minister of immigration) disrupt his whole party line ... We need to pray," she said.

Back at the cemetery, American tourists are snapping pictures of Smith's grave. One gets the feeling it might go on for years.

"I wanted to pay my respects to Anna. I'm a fan of hers. I think she was beautiful," said 20-year-old Kim Polfliet, on her spring break from Wisconsin.

Tourists are prevented from getting close to the grave by uniformed security guards standing outside the cemetery. They were put there after locals complained that American tourists were trampling their loved ones' graves.

"It's a disgrace," said Bahamian pastor Anthony Campbell, who performs funerals at the cemetery. "One American woman has been holding the Bahamian people hostage."

The big highlight of the week for tourists, most of them seemed to agree, happened on Tuesday at the Nassau courthouse. All the key players in a bitter custody dispute over Smith's 6-month-old baby Dannielynn attended a hearing regarding DNA testing to prove paternity.

A few dozen American tourists, some wearing sandals and sunglasses, stood out front to see who they referred to as their favorite characters in the soap opera. A Bahamian man brought around a tray of baked goods he was selling for $2 apiece.

"It's like a piece of history, an odd little perverted piece of history, but history nonetheless," explained Aimee Serra, a mother of two from Birmingham, Ala., drinking beer out of a bottle with her best girlfriends outside the court hearing. "How many opportunities do you have to be in "the"vacation spot?" she said. "I was in France at the Cannes Film Festival, and I was so excited to be there, and this is awful to say, but that's how I feel. I'm thinking, 'how could I (miss being) in the Bahamas during this trial when Howard [K.] Stern (Smith's lawyer and companion) goes in the courthouse?'"

Some of the court spectators had the kind of glee you see in the eyes of audience members on "American Idol," and were not shy about which "contestant" they were rooting for. They erupted in cheers when Smith's ex-boyfriend, the blonde, sun-kissed Larry Birkhead exited the courthouse. In the Bahamas, Birkhead is a rock star. The loudest cheers came from Mel Killmeyer, a retired florist from Pittsburgh, Pa. Killmeyer said it seemed clear to him Birkhead is the father of Smith's baby, and he was really hoping he was correct.

"He just has a way about him that's down to earth, and I think he would be a good father ... He looks like an all-American guy, really," Killmeyer said.

Though some business owners in the Bahamas are pleased to be raking in the local pink dollars -- claiming business has doubled from this time last year because of Smith's death -- many locals are anxiously waiting for the media circus to die down for good.

"It gives a negative image of the Bahamas," said Norah Darling, manager of the local Internet center. "Especially of our government. It makes it look like we're too lenient."

Darling was referring to a local political scandal regarding Gibson, who resigned his post as minister of immigration after being accused of improper behavior when newspaper photographs were published showing (a fully clothed) Gibson lying in bed with Smith. Gibson had been in charge of granting Smith permanent resident status in the Bahamas.

Government officials remain tight-lipped about anything to do with Smith. When asked about her presence on the island, several of them tensed up. "I won't comment on Anna Nicole because that is a matter for the courts," said Mitchell Field, the Bahamian minister of foreign affairs, when stopped outside a meeting in the local parliament. "But I do think Shane Gibson is a good man who acted inappropriately."

One local business owner, Reginald Munroe, believes it might all end up being a helpful lesson for his tiny country. "It will cause our leaders to be much more aware of the examples they're setting."