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By Casey Jones


Times Leader Opinion Columnist




It looked like a hurricane evacuation was underway.
The southbound lanes of Route 309 were empty at 5:15 p.m.
The northbound lanes, where I idled in traffic, were bumper-to-bumper gridlock.
Call it Hurricane Dick.
Luzerne County paused as Vice-President Dick Cheney passed Monday.
Intersections were blocked and traffic was stopped to give Cheney a road of his own as he hurried back to the airport after giving embattled U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Tunkhannock, a boost in his re-election campaign.
It was quite a convoy, as always.
There were cops on motorcycles, cops in cop cars, cops in SUVs, cops in unmarked cars.
Cheney and his entourage of aides and secret service agents ride in three black Chevrolet Suburbans.
An ambulance accompanies the vice-president, even on non-hunting trips, and a helicopter hovers overhead.
I watched from the northbound traffic jam as the procession flashed by en-route to the airport, where Air Force Two awaited.
And it occurred to me that the vice-president, despite the show of force, was vulnerable.
According to today&rsquo;s Times Leader, security was strict at the airport. The press was kept at a distance, and the public was kept away.
At the home of Harold E. Flack II, host of the fundraising event, secret service agents took up hidden positions on the grounds.
And along the route, bystanders hoping for a glimpse of the vice-president were checked out by the authorities.
Plus, officials cleared the Cross Valley Expressway, but only in one direction.
As a result, the vice-president passed within 40 feet of hundreds of un-vetted vehicles.
Ben Roethlisberger could have hit him with a screen pass.
A protester could have bombarded him with eggs.
A terrorist could have ____________.
So my question is: Are the people who protect the vice-president really that incompetent?
Or was it just a show-of-force to make it seem like threats exist &ndash; to make it appear that the enemy is among us --when there&rsquo;s really no danger at all?
(You can e-mail Jones at  cjones@leader.net)

Casey Jones Opinion: A Visit From Hurricane Dick