Round-The-Clock-Watch Over Anna's Grave
Security guards are on a round-the-clock watch over Anna Nicole Smith's grave at the Lakeview Memorial Gardens cemetery in Nassau, Bahamas, after nearly 300 visits in less than a week by tourists had destroyed some of the cemetery's landscaping, Nassau's Freeport News reports.
"We had cars pulling up on the graveside and destroying the landscape and the graves and disrespecting the deceased," a security guard at the cemetery told the newspaper. "Since Friday's funeral we had roughly over 300 people here between Friday and now."
The security guard said he had taken complaints from people who have family members buried at the cemetery.Timeline: Anna Nicole Smith
According to the newspaper, guards armed with attack dogs are filtering out persons who are visiting family members' resting places at the cemetery from tourists who are coming to see the island's newest attraction.
A sign with the words "This is not a tour site, please respect the cemetery" is pasted on a barricade that blocks the entrance to the gravesite after, officials said, people drove over some graves in search of Smith's grave, the newspaper reported.
Deb Cartwright, an employee at the cemetery, said taxi drivers in the area are using the cemetery as part of their tour.Photos: Anna Nicole Smith — Tragedy Strikes
Photos: Anna Nicole Smith — Her Life
Cartwright told the newspaper that she had gotten into a verbal clash with one irate tourist who felt that she should have been allowed inside the cemetery to view the pin-up's grave. The visitor said she paid a taxi driver $50 for a tour of Smith's house and grave.