Posted on 02/14/2006 12:29:49 PM PST by PhilipFreneau
As a person living in S. Texas very close to the ranch where the accident happened, I'm amazed at the drivel posted by folks that know nothing about what happened on the Anderson's ranch.
The media is just pissed off that our hometown paper was the first to break the story. Go to www.caller.com and read the stories filed on the paper's website.
You will find that "Willeford, an experienced hunter, described the shooting as it appears in the report. She said Whittington and Cheney were walking beside her when Whittington stopped to search for the downed quail.
"The vice president and I hesitated and then walked on," she said. "Unbeknownst to both of us, Harry had caught up with us on the right."
That's when another covey flushed, Cheney fired and struck Whittington, she said.
"He's very experienced, very safe," the ambassador said of Cheney, whom she has hunted with before. "It's a very unfortunate accident."
An investigation by the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department is ongoing and the report will not be released until it is complete, likely in several days, sheriff's officials said.
Kenedy County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Gilberto San Miguel Jr. spent most of Monday in Corpus Christi interviewing witnesses and visiting Whittington.
Sheriff Ramon Salinas said he received a call from Secret Service officials 10 minutes after the shooting Saturday. Sheriff's officials interviewed Cheney on Sunday morning at the ranch. "
Frankly, it seems to me that the TV media is bent out of shape because they weren't called before the Sheriff.
Whittington erred in not letting the group know he had returned to the firing line. Cheney erred in firing too quickly. Other than that, it's just another incident that will go down with Carter's Attack Rabbit, and various predidential golf shots popping folks in the head.
As to the heart attack, the pellet "migrated" to the heart, which I assume meant that it was carried there from beneath the skin where it originally lodged.
Interesting, thanks!
I need another stamp to hunt quail?
Thank you for the real story..Of course the media do not want to hear what really happened they wanted to make a bigger deal of it all...I will keep Mr Whittington, in my thoughts and prayers..
Thanks for the report.
Unfortunately, the Caller requires registration to read at their site, and does not activate for 48 hours. They're missing a lot of hits that way.
If you are registered there, perhaps you caould share more of their stories on this thread.
Yup, the upland bird stamp, which sounds suspiciously like some bad dance step like the 'Funky Chicken'.
I found the fee on the TPWD web site.
The Upland Gamebird endorsment is included in my Tx. SuperCombo Hunting/Fishing License for $64.00.
Absolutely, prayers for his recovery.
You Texans crack me up! :)
Belfast Telegraph Home > News
'Dick Cheney shoots elderly man in the face with shotgun'
13 February 2006 Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, accidentally shot a man in the face with a shotgun while hunting for quail on a Texas ranch.
Mr Cheney, 65, sprayed birdshot into Harry Whittington, a fellow hunter, while trying to hit a flock of quail on Saturday afternoon. Mr Whittington, 78, a lawyer from Austin, Texas, was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital where he was treated for pellet wounds to the right side of his face, neck and chest.
A spokesman for the hospital said he was not seriously injured and described his condition as "stable". A witness, Katharine Armstrong, said Mr Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Mr Cheney and a third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second flock. She said: "Whittington came up from behind the Vice-President and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself.
"The Vice-President didn't see him ... the covey [flock] flushed and the Vice-President picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by God, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good." Mr Cheney was said to have visited his friend in hospital.
This is not the first time Mr Cheney has been on a controversial hunt - he once shot 70 farmed ring-neck pheasants in a single session at the Rolling Rock Club in Pennsylvania in 2003. Critics called it a "canned hunt".
My guess is that not a single reporter covering the White House made a routine courtesy call to the Sheriff's office. Even though they knew the VP was staying in the area.
Just another example of how reporters are simply lazy, waiting for the story to be given to them.
The Guy misses on one thing here, it was the Armstrong Ranch not the Anderson Ranch.
Yes, apparently new stamp rules went into effect about 5 months ago.
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