Johnny, we hardly saw ye’

By DAVID HULSE

MATAMORAS, PA — If he had been in an airplane, you could have termed Senator John Kerry’s hasty Friday passage through the river valley as a “fly-by.”

A planned noon-time opportunity to meet the Democratic presidential ticket didn’t quite work out as planned for about 200 area residents who showed up to greet the candidate at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center in Westfall.

Matamoras Mayor Dick Gassman and Pike County Democratic Chair Maurine Giordano said they received phone calls on the prior Wednesday asking them if they could get some people out on Friday to meet the candidates who were to be on their way from Boston to a large Scranton rally.

Giordano said they wanted “real people, not ties and suits.” She was happy about the opportunity since Kerry was the first presidential candidate that she had felt “passionate” about, but she was also concerned. “I told them I could get people here, but I wanted to be sure [the candidates] were actually going to stop. I didn’t want people coming for nothing,” she said.

Gassman said they put the word out privately, “by word of mouth,” and did not initially inform the local media. “They asked us not to,” he added.

Early arrivals showed up by 10:00 a.m. on the appointed morning. By 11:30 a.m., about three-dozen people were milling around on the sun-baked lawn surrounding the visitor center, which is tucked between Route 209 and Interstate 84 at the Matamoras exit.

As noon came and went, Gassman could be seen on his cell phone looking for information. “It seems Edwards likes Wendy’s hamburgers, so they stopped in Newburgh for lunch,” he reported.

More people continued to arrive, some carrying homemade signs of support.

Former Pike Commissioner Gerry Hansen said he “came to see the next President of the United States. If I could get elected as a Democrat once in Pike County, he could win the county twice.”

Shohola Supervisor George J. Fluhr and Township Secretary Nilia Wall were there. “It interests me. I might want to hear what he has to say outside the convention,” Wall said.

Ed Kostal, co-chair of the Monroe County Kerry Campaign was optimistic about Kerry’s chances with disenchanted voters in Monroe. “We started out backing Kucinich. Fifty percent of the people we’ve been hearing from are independents, disgruntled Republicans, greens and Pocono progressives,” he said.

The crowd grew as time passed, catching the attention of passing motorists. A woman traveling from Vermont to York had her camera in hand. “I’m going to wait and see what happens,” she said.

Anticipation rose at 12:45 p.m. when a state police helicopter circled briefly, landed and was soon joined by a large contingent of patrol cars and motorcycle cops. State police had come from as far away as bases in Swiftwater and Harrisburg, one officer said.

But nothing happened.

At 1:00 p.m., an entrepreneur appeared selling campaign buttons, three for $10. Having parked on the elevated interstate, he was soon rousted by state police, who wanted the car removed.

At 1:20 p.m., part of Kerry’s advance team arrived with T-shirts and Kerry-Edwards posters to give away.

Time transpired and 2:00 p.m. passed without the candidates’ appearance. They were scheduled to be in Scranton by 2:00 p.m. and Kostal then reported that the now full parking lot presented a security problem and the Kerry caravan would not be stopping. Still nothing happened.

Then at about 2:30 p.m., the police started moving about, blocking exits and ramps. Police chased a hopeful photographer from the brush near the highway. Motorcycle cops formed an escort and a line of red, white and blue buses, lettered with “Believe in America appeared and slowed near the highway shoulder. In the lead bus, vice-presidential candidate Senator John Edwards suddenly was waving from a window. A moment later, as the crowd began waving signs and banners, Kerry appeared in the doorway of the moving bus, waving. After about five seconds, they were gone.

Some were disappointed and said so, but many were not. “We were lucky to have gotten that. They’re two hours behind schedule,” said one placard-carrying man as he retreated to his car.