Posted on 02/10/2007 8:36:40 AM PST by Froufrou
Two weeks before Anna Nicole Smith died at age 39 in a Florida hotel room, Dave Fitte removed a photograph of her from the back wall of his laundry here and threw it unceremoniously into the trash.
"I said, 'I'm done with that,'" he recalled.
Smith had given him the signed photograph in 1993, nearly a decade after she fled this small town of her youth. Freshly minted as Playboy's Playmate of the Year and model for Guess? jeans, the buxom faux-blonde on her return had paraded with a camera crew through downtown Mexia in a flesh-baring dress.
Smith twirled. Modest locals gaped, some in exaltation.
But the autograph had since faded, Fitte said, and so had his adoration. Long before Smith collapsed and died from unknown causes Thursday, Fitte and others in this unassuming town east of Waco had come to view her hyper-sexual, money-hungry persona as contrary to their conservative country values.
Yet people here couldn't forget the beautiful, troubled star. And they never could shake the media.
A glut of reporters and photographers converged Friday at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken, where Smith worked as a waitress and met a fry cook who became her first husband.
Steven Hughes, the restaurant's manager, was fed up.
"We're being reported as heartless," he said angrily, denying a request for an interview.
At lunchtime, a reporter bartered four chicken tenders for four questions. Hughes submitted unhappily.
"We just want our fame to go away," he said. "We're just small-town people."
He described Smith as a typical teenager in the 1980s.
"We are proud of her success," he said, adding, "I'm not saying I am or am not proud of some of the things she did."
Born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston, Smith moved to Mexia with her mother, a sheriff's deputy. She quit high school in the 11th grade and later married 16-year-old Billy Wayne Smith, with whom she had a son, Daniel Smith VIII.
She left her husband soon after and returned to Houston. The split, locals say, devastated Billy Wayne Smith, who didn't answer his door Friday.
Downtown, a sign on the door of a beauty salon warned "No Reporters Please," a ban broken only by some cajoling. Inside, an employee who identified herself only as Lisa explained the restriction.
"If it wasn't Anna Nicole, it was David Koresh," she complained about the media's obsession with certain stories.
To her, Smith's story became unflattering in 1994 when the topless dancer married millionaire J. Howard Marshall, 89. He died one year later; the fate of much of his fortune remains in limbo.
"That's not what this town is about," Lisa said. "It's about making a living, raising a family."
At one point, a rumor spread that Smith made a disparaging comment to the media about Mexia, population 6,563.
"That is what set it off," said Perri Welch, the salon's owner, "that she got away from Mexia and rose above us."
Fitte said he was turned off by the reality series, "The Anna Nicole Show," on the E! channel.
"All she did was go around making a boob out of herself," he joked.
Fitte had other jokes too, including one about the real father of Smith's daughter Dannielynn, born in September. The paternity of the child remains unclear.
Shelly Cloud, Smith's cousin, was indignant Friday at what she considered an insensitive backlash against her relative. As her cousin rose to fame as an object of both adoration and ridicule, Cloud said many missed the real Smith: a sweet country girl.
"They didn't know her heart," Cloud said. "She loved. People who see the outside never got to see the beauty of what kind of person she was."
The media is more of a whore than Anna Nicole ever was. They are in it for the ratings and the money.
My first reaction was: they haven't even got the poor child buried and they have to write this?
Then I realized the person they quote last tells of the sweet person we've lost.
I'm not sure he wrote it as a tribute, but I posted it as one.
"We just want our fame to go away," he said.
I never heard of the place.
I don't know where it is, but it's pronounced "muh-he-a."
She was probably their last best chance for fame.
Cousin Shelly , Anna's cousin Shelly made me & my husband LOL !
On the Anna Nicole show on 1 episode had cousin Shelly asking ( begging ) for vicodins . Then Shelly thanked Anna for her false teeth . Then Shelly related a story about punching out a doctor who sexually fondled Shelly . Shelly Punched the doctor in front of the nurse . When the nurse told Shelly that the doctor could sue Shelly for assualt , Shelly responded " Good , What's he going to get from me my ###### Food Stamps !
If someone has a u tube of that exchange it was hilarious !
speaking of money...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1782518/posts?page=20
Anna Nicole Smith has died according to ABC News
| Posted by kcvl On News/Activism 02/08/2007 3:39:03 PM EST · 3,958 replies · 95,660+ views Anna Nicole Smith collapsed in her hotel room at the Hard Rock Cafe and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and was rushed to a hospital on Thursday. A Hollywood, Fla., fire department spokesman told MSNBC TV that the actress was unresponsive when the rescue unit arrived on the scene. Sources confirmed to Access Hollywood that Smith was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital shortly after 2 p.m. EST on Thursday. Access Hollywood also is reporting that Smith was intubated at the scene. Officials told the Miami Herald, "it does not look good." |
||
|
The first WTC thread on 9/11: |
||
| Posted by Oldeconomybuyer On News/Activism 09/11/2001 8:52:43 AM EDT · 596 replies · 74,003+ views CNBC ^ | 9-11-01 | self CNBC reports a plane has hit the World Trade Center in NY. No details... |
||
People change ... but what is always true is
what is on the INSIDE of a person is reflected in their OUTWARD behavior.
This poor soul was destroying herself and others let it happen.
I watched the special on Dateline about her. She looked happy in the hospital, with her daughter. Poor thing; she loved her son very much, losing him was awful.
There were not sig. levels of Rx drugs in her stomach.
"It's curious as to WHY she needed a nurse around her that couldn't give CPR."
On Dateline, they said the nurse called her paramedic husband to revive her. They didn't say what the nurse may have done.
FR has a lot more regular readers than it did five years ago. Also, there have been hundreds of 9/11 threads and a relative few on Smith's death. In 2001, the moderators didn't lock or cancel duplicate threads nearly as often, so there were most likely several dozen WTC threads going on. Heck, this year's Super Bowl thread had nearly four times the number of responses as the thread you posted on the WTC.
Time for THE LIST!!!!!
This case has not been so much about the Tabloid Anna Nicole Smith, but the legal crises surrounding;
The death of a son - about to reach his majority (age 21)of undetermined manner and cause. Could be homicide.
The birth of a daughter - whose paternity and custody is in question - who may also have been born addicted to illegally obtained prescription drugs.
The premature, undetermined death of the infant's mother -could be homicide, suicide or misadventure.
Conspiracy to access a $1.6billion estate and eliminate per stirpes heirs.
Conspiracy by lawyers and foreign government officials to circumvent immigration laws for fraudulent purposes.
Intent to defraud owners of real property and real estate.
Illegal transportation of prescription drugs, by interstate and international waters.
Potential kidnapping of a US citizen.
Creation and presentation of fraudulent documents to avoid parental and custodial rights.
Possible religious bias against a Southern Baptist/Christian upbringing for a child who had a GODMOTHER appointed by her mother, who had a "Baptist" minister perform a "committment ceremony". Will the self-appointed father honor this religious affiliation or circumvent it?
WE SHOULD ALL BE TERRIFIED THAT THESE SAME LAWYERS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND JUDGES COULD PUT ALL OF US IN JEOPARDY.
A REVIEW OF ALL THE "LEGAL" RULINGS TO DATE SHOULD REMIND US TO NEVER LEAVE OUR AFFAIRS IN THE HANDS OF LAWYERS OR JUDGES.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.