Posted on 02/22/2006 4:50:16 PM PST by The_Victor
Eyewitness statements about Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of his quail hunting partner largely confirm previous accounts with some minor discrepancies, according to affidavits obtained today by the Houston Chronicle.
The affidavits, released by the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department, give the most detailed accounts to date of the events leading up to the Feb. 11 shooting of Republican activist and Austin attorney Harry Whittington.
"Mr. Cheney, not knowing that Harry had made his way into the shooting area, shot at the bird," wrote Michael "Bo" Hubert, the El Campo-based hunting guide. "And at that time is when Harry was shot."
Whittington, Cheney and Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland were all hunting together at the Armstrong Ranch in South Texas when Whittington apparently walked out of the hunting line to search for a downed quail he had shot that Saturday afternoon.
Cheney, unaware that Whittington had moved forward and to the vice president's right, accidentally shot the GOP supporter when the vice president turned his shotgun to track a quail that flushed in front of him.
The incident, which was not made public for 22 hours, prompted criticism over the handling of the information involving the vice president, who went on television four days after the shooting to explain what had happened. The first news of the accident came when ranch owner Katharine Armstrong contacted the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on Sunday.
In affidavits obtained today, a clearer picture emerged about what was seen by Armstrong and her sister Sarita Armstrong Hixon, both owners of the ranch, and those in the hunting party. Both women along with Willeford, Hubert, and two Armstrong Ranch employees, filed statements about that day.
According to Willeford, the hunting party came upon two coveys of quail.
She wrote that Whittington shot two quail in that first covey. He picked up one bird and began searching for the second.
"He stopped to pick up his birds and spent several minutes looking, as the second bird was difficult to find," Willeford wrote on Feb. 15, four days after the incident.
Willeford and Cheney walked ahead of Whittington. A bird then flushed in front of the vice president and "flew to our right," Willeford wrote.
Both the ambassador and the vice president took aim but Willeford did not shoot because she said the bird was out of her range.
"Neither the vice president nor I realized he (Whittington) had left his former position behind us and was now about 30 yards to the right (west) and slightly below us," she wrote.
"I did not hear him (Whittington) call out to warn the shooters of his approach," Hixon wrote.
Their statements match earlier accounts of the incident.
However, there seems to be varying recollections of whether Cheney's target quail appeared in front of or behind the hunters.
Willeford said there was "no alcohol consumed during the afternoon of the hunt in the field." However, she said she did consume a glass of wine at lunch, about 4-4 1/2 hours earlier.
A week ago, Cheney said he had a beer at that same lunch.
Last week, Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas III ruled the shooting an accident.
Whittington, 78, was released from a Corpus Christi hospital on Friday. He was rushed to a hospital after received up to 200 tiny shotgun pellets in the right torso, neck and face. One pellet lodged at his heart, causing a mild heart attack on Feb. 14, three days after the shooting.
Good point once you are in an ambulance it is official
Cheney, the conservative that moderates once seemed to like, has strangely iced over in recent years. Even his old friends sometimes wonder if he has not grown angrier, more suspicious, even paranoid.
All lies! Haliburton, Kenny Boy, WMDS, Global Warming!
It did... I know about it last week, but David Gregory buried it so he could throw his 'it's all about me' hissy fit.
It dried up even after the "unbiased" media promised it would never go away!
It is interesting that their are many reports that they are still in contact with friends from their early days in Wyoming.
The left show their true colours they cannot understand this man who has a 30 year history of public service but will not play the public relation game.
Despite what they say we know he is not the dark evil man they portray.
But - the hunting story didn't have legs, and it looks like the port story has very short legs.
What are the Dems to do??? There's got to be a *story*. Is there a way to blame Bush for the wheat and eggs in McD's fries?
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8184.shtml
I fasten my trusty tin foil hat and wait for the inevitable fallout.
It dried up even after the "unbiased" media promised it would never go away!
Actually, the story would still be around if something juicier (the UAE port facilities uproar) hadn't come up. It's funny how an allegedly "big" story drops like a stone when another "big" story comes up. Happens all the time.
Evidence?....
Third and fourth hand hearsay doesn't qualify....
Evidence anyone?
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Anyone?
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Anyone?
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I saw it on Liberty Post so it must be true.
Note: This is Sarcasm.
I realize this isn't Fox News, but these people have gotten things correct before.
I was merely posting a link to a source of information. If folks can post links to "conservative" blogs here, then I should be able to post links like this.
Of course, if the Veep was drunker than a skunk....Fox news wouldn't have that story now would they.
I don't know if Cheney was drunk or not. He says he wasn't and the affidavits back up that claim. I think the sworn testimony of the people who were there outweighs the hearsay mumblings of a reporter who could easily be making his entire story up.
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