Count frequent flier Rep. John Dingell, ranking member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, among the victims of post-9-11 airline security measures. After his artificial hip set off a metal detector Saturday afternoon, the 75-year-old Michigan Democrat was ordered to pull down his pants at Reagan National Airport as he tried to board Northwest Airlines Flight 1417 to Detroit.
Dingell, who flies Northwest between Washington and Detroit around 100 times a year, told us yesterday that he explained to an airport security employee he was wearing a knee brace and surgically implanted pins are in his ankles, as well as a steel hip joint. Dingell said he refused a request to send his wallet through the X-ray machine, telling employees that a few weeks earlier jewelry had been stolen from his wife, General Motors Foundation President Debbie Dingell, when she sent it through.
It was then that the security employee, known as a screener, ordered him to unhook the brace from his knee and remove his shoes and socks, Dingell said. Then the congressman was led into a temporary office and directed to lower his slacks while the employee waved a metal-detecting wand over his boxer shorts.
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Me3
And oh as I fade away they'll all look at me and say,
hey look at him and where he is these days
When life is hard you have to change
Dingell, who flies Northwest between Washington and Detroit around 100 times a year, told us yesterday that he explained to an airport security employee he was wearing a knee brace and surgically implanted pins are in his ankles, as well as a steel hip joint. Dingell said he refused a request to send his wallet through the X-ray machine, telling employees that a few weeks earlier jewelry had been stolen from his wife, General Motors Foundation President Debbie Dingell, when she sent it through.
It was then that the security employee, known as a screener, ordered him to unhook the brace from his knee and remove his shoes and socks, Dingell said. Then the congressman was led into a temporary office and directed to lower his slacks while the employee waved a metal-detecting wand over his boxer shorts.
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Me3
And oh as I fade away they'll all look at me and say,
hey look at him and where he is these days
When life is hard you have to change
