By Jeffrey Jolson

OK paid more than us, so they get plugged here

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/28/07 — Proud poppa Larry Birkhead and baby Dannielyn, their newly minted birth certificate in hand, are coming into Los Angeles after a year of paternity battles in two countries.The Bahamian courts cleared him Friday for a fast-track passport for the seven-month old baby, officially a U.S. citizen. And with some applause, Howard K. Stern was replaced as father on a new birth certificate with Larry Birkhead’s name.

Anna Nicole’s estranged and getting stranger mother, Virgie Arthur, was rebuffed in a last minute legal attempt to stop the child from leaving the Bahamas. The three judges who heard her motion not only said her lawyers might want to do a “reality” check, they fined Arthur $3,000 for essentially bringing a nuisance suit.

“I’m happy because this is nonsense really,” Birkhead said on the Bahamian courthouse steps where he spent a lot of time expressing his glee since DNA tests proved he was the Baby Daddy on April 10.

He started his paternity suit in California long before the baby was born, arguing that Smith was taking drugs during her pregnancy. The baby was born Sept. 7, three day later Daniel Smith died of an overdose and six months later, Smith followed suit.

Birkhead assured officials and the media he would return for a June 8 court date, which Arthur claimed he would not do. “I don’t know where she got that from. Maybe that’s why they made her pay money.”

Stern, who has been caring for the girl in the oceanfront home he shared with Smith, patted Birkhead on the back after the ruling and said he was preparing himself emotionally to hand over custody.

“It’s difficult for me, but since paternity tests made it clear that Larry was the father, I knew it was inevitable,” Stern said to reporters. “I just want Dannielynn to have a good life, and I’m confident Larry will give it to her.”