Post by: Anonymous on February 12, 2006, 04:01:00 PM
BREAKING NEWS Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a hunting trip in Texas, The Associated Press reports.
Post by: Anonymous on February 12, 2006, 04:02:00 PM
He shot a lawyer!!!
Post by: Anonymous on February 12, 2006, 04:11:00 PM
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 03:56:00 AM
From the Los Angeles Times
Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter
The vice president's companion, 78, is stable after he's peppered in the head with shotgun pellets. The accident was reported a day later.
By Alan C. Miller and James Gerstenzang
Times Staff Writers
February 13, 2006
WASHINGTON ? Vice President Dick Cheney, quail hunting on a South Texas ranch, accidentally shot and wounded a 78-year-old companion Saturday, hitting him with a spray of shotgun pellets, his office said Sunday.
Harry Whittington, a prominent lawyer from Austin, Texas, was being treated for head injuries at Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi, hospital spokeswoman Michele Trevino said Sunday. She said he was in stable condition in the intensive care unit.
Cheney's press secretary, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president visited Whittington in the hospital Sunday afternoon before returning to Washington. Whittington was described as being in "good spirits" during Cheney's visit. McBride said the vice president also spoke by telephone to Whittington's wife.
The accident occurred late Saturday afternoon at the Armstrong Ranch, a 50,000-acre spread southwest of Corpus Christi at Armstrong. It was first reported Sunday on the website of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Cheney's office did not say why news of the incident was not released the day it happened, and referred requests for that information to ranch owner Katharine Armstrong.
The Times could not reach Armstrong for comment.
She told other reporters at the ranch Sunday that Cheney was using a 28-gauge shotgun ? a popular size for hunting small birds ? and that Whittington was about 30 yards away when he was hit, according to Associated Press.
Armstrong said she was sitting in a vehicle and watched as Cheney, Whittington and another hunter spotted a covey of quails. Whittington shot a bird and left to look for it as Cheney and the other hunter located a second covey and walked ahead of Whittington to take their shots.
At that point, Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong told Associated Press in an interview.
"The vice president didn't see him," she said. "The covey 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."
All the hunters were wearing bright orange vests, she said.
Dr. Marshall Morgan, chief of emergency medicine at UCLA Medical Center, said the severity of shotgun injuries depended on the distance between the gun and the person hit by it. "A shotgun injury to a person, unless it's at close range, is unlikely to produce a lethal injury that a handgun or a rifle would," he said.
When a shotgun goes off, the pellets are in a relatively tight pattern, able to inflict severe damage within 20 feet, Morgan said. But as they travel, the pellets spread out and slow down.
"The really controlling factor is the distance," he said.
Whittington was treated on the scene by personnel who travel with the vice president, then taken to Memorial, the closest general trauma center.
Armstrong told Associated Press that the pellets broke the skin, causing bleeding.
"It knocked him silly, but he was fine," she said. "He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."
Armstrong described the incident as something "that happens from time to time?. I've been peppered pretty well myself."
Cheney is an avid sportsman, frequently leaving the capital for hunting and fishing excursions.
He spends many weekends and much of August at his vacation home outside Jackson, Wyo., and he headed there when his campaign chores ended in November 2004. He has gone duck hunting in Louisiana with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and recently purchased a home on Maryland's Eastern Shore, along birds' migration path.
The Humane Society of the United States criticized the vice president three years ago for his participation in a so-called canned hunt in which he reportedly bagged more than 70 pheasants and an unknown number of ducks at a private club in Pennsylvania. In a canned hunt, captive-reared animals are released in large numbers, often in a confined space.
Cheney has visited the Armstrong Ranch several times, including recent annual hunting trips. In October, he delivered a eulogy at the funeral of Katharine Armstrong's father, Tobin.
Katharine's mother, Anne, has long been a power in Texas Republican circles and was appointed by President Ford to be U.S. ambassador to Britain, a post typically reserved for high-level party contributors. She was on the board of Halliburton Co. when Cheney became chief executive of the oil services company in 1995.
As governor of Texas, George W. Bush named Katharine Armstrong to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in 1999. She was appointed chairwoman of the commission by Bush's successor as governor, Republican Rick Perry.
Whittington, a wealthy real estate investor, is also politically active. As governor, Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Services Commission. He has also served on the state's Department of Corrections Board, the Public Finance Authority Board and the Office of Patient Protection.
Armstrong said that although Cheney and Whittington had hunted on the ranch before, she believed this was the first time they had been there together.
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 08:33:00 AM
2/12/2006 5:40:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Peter Hamm of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 202-289-5792
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- James and Sarah Brady made comments today related to Vice President Cheney's reportedly accidental shooting yesterday in Texas.
"Now I understand why Dick Cheney keeps asking me to go hunting with him," said Jim Brady. "I had a friend once who accidentally shot pellets into his dog - and I thought he was an idiot."
"I've thought Cheney was scary for a long time," Sarah Brady said. "Now I know I was right to be nervous."
http://www.usnewswire.com/ (http://www.usnewswire.com/)
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 01:04:00 PM
Go shoot people in your own state, OK?
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 02:20:00 PM
The explanation just was announced of
why it took overnight for the Vice
President's office to make the
announcement that he had shot a fellow
hunter.
The reason ...
Officials where busy working with the
Armstrong Ranch officials on getting
the story straight.
Once they where in synch, the next day
they made it public.
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 03:06:00 PM
one who "waits" until the story get
straightened out ...
---
Remember when Chaney said not to elect
Kerry because he could not handle
the tough issues like terrorism ...
Ha!
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 04:17:00 PM
Mon Feb 13, 2006
By Patricia Wilson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush knew hours after Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow quail hunter but the White House came under fire on Monday for not making the information public until the next day.
The victim, Harry Whittington, 78, took pellets in his cheek, neck and chest when Cheney fired his shotgun while aiming for a bird during a hunt in southern Texas on Saturday, and was in stable condition at a Corpus Christi hospital.
Whittington was in intensive care as a precautionary measure because he was "peppered by shotgun spray," said Peter Banko, administrator of Christus Spohn Hospital. His condition is "not critical, not serious. It's just stable at this time."
The accident happened around 5:30 p.m. on a private ranch about 200 miles south of San Antonio, where the vice president has hunted previously. Whittington was treated on the scene by Cheney's traveling medical detail before being taken by helicopter to the hospital.
The accident was not reported publicly by the vice president's office until Sunday afternoon and then only after an account provided by the ranch's owner appeared on the Web site of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times -- the local newspaper.
In a testy exchange with reporters on Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan was bombarded with questions about the propriety of a private citizen making public a shooting incident involving the vice president and whether Cheney had followed White House protocol.
McClellan said Bush and senior aides were first told by staff in the Situation Room that there had been an accident in Cheney's hunting party and that the president learned later on Saturday night that the vice president had been the shooter.
"I think he was informed in a relatively reasonable time," he said at the news briefing.
A LONG STORY
McClellan said the vice president's staff did not tell reporters about the accident on Saturday because they were concerned about getting Whittington medical attention and were still gathering facts.
Cheney and the owner of the property, Katharine Armstrong, then agreed that she should provide the information to the public about an accident that happened on her ranch.
"The vice president spoke with Mrs. Katharine Armstrong, and they agreed that she should make that information public. She was an eyewitness. She saw what occurred and she called her local paper to provide those facts," McClellan said.
Armstrong said it wasn't until Sunday that she telephoned the Caller-Times. She did not notify the national media or the White House press corps.
McClellan declined to say if he was satisfied with the way it was handled.
"You can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job," he said.
McClellan said he found out that Cheney was involved at 6 a.m. on Sunday and urged that information be made available as quickly as possible.
According to Armstrong's account, she saw the incident from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail. As Whittington went to retrieve a bird he had shot, Cheney and the unidentified hunter spotted a second covey.
Whittington came up behind and failed to signal that he was there or announce himself, which is proper protocol for hunters. Cheney, an experienced hunter, fired his shotgun without realizing that Whittington had approached the group.
© Reuters 2006.
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 04:29:00 PM
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 04:33:00 PM
Quote
On 2006-02-13 13:29:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I heard somewhere that it was a canned hunt also. Real sporting of him, huh? :roll: "
Only losers have to hunt in a canned, planned,
and catered private ranch.
---
Hey, if an ordinary citizen waited until the next
day to report a shooting would it be a felony.
Although, I may be streaching. The article only
spoke about reporting to the public. If he notified police, well, then, he is still our VP.
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 07:49:00 PM
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 07:51:00 PM
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2006, 07:57:00 PM
Dave Leterman's top ten list
Jay Leno
The Onion
A gambling site taking bets on who he
is going to shoot next.
Jokes on the net!
Cartoonist ...
This is fun, oh, plus a report that he
may have been hunting illegally.
I can't wait for the Daily News and
the Coburn Show ...
---
The sad thing, as Jay Leno stated,
since he shot an attorney his popularity
is going up!
Post by: Anonymous on February 14, 2006, 04:11:00 PM
That's after some of the birdshot moved into his heart tissue.
Harry Whittington is recovering, and doctors say the 78-year-old Austin lawyer will be monitored to make sure more birdshot doesn't move to other organs or other parts of his body.
They say he's been moved back into the intensive care unit for further treatment.
The doctors say Whittington didn't show any of the normal symptoms of a heart attack, such as chest pain. He's still listed in stable condition.
They say they've been consulting with White House doctors about Whittington's treatment. Those doctors attended to Whittington on the scene of the shooting.
Cheney accidentally shot and wounded Whittington on Saturday while they were hunting on the 50-thousand-acre Armstrong Ranch south of Corpus Christi.
Post by: Anonymous on February 15, 2006, 05:27:00 PM
Cheney breaks silence on hunting accident
By NEDRA PICKLER and LYNN BREZOSKY
Associated Press Writers
AP Photo/EVAN VUCCI
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday accepted full blame for shooting a fellow hunter and defended his decision to not publicly disclose the accident until the following day. He called it "one of the worst days of my life."
"I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry," Cheney told Fox News Channel in his first public comments since the shooting Saturday in south Texas.
Cheney described seeing 78-year-old Harry Whittington fall to the ground after he pulled the trigger while aiming at a covey of quail.
"The image of him falling is something I'll never ever be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said. "I fired, and there's Harry falling. It was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life at that moment."
Advertisement
Cheney has been under intense political pressure to speak out about the shooting incident, which has become a public relations embarrassment and potential political liability for the White House. Until Wednesday, Cheney had refused to comment on why he withheld information about the shooting, which prolonged the controversy and made him the butt of jokes.
Cheney was soft-spoken and somber during the interview with Fox's Brit Hume.
"You can talk about all of the other conditions that exist at the time but that's the bottom line and - it was not Harry's fault," he said. "You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend."
Cheney said he had had a beer at lunch that day, but nobody was drinking when they went back out to hunt several hours later.
Mark Smith, A-P correspondent: Smith reports Cheney the vice president has agreed to an interview later today.
---
Document
Cheney Shooting Report
Latest News
Cheney could face charges in shooting
Cheney breaks silence on hunting accident
Pellets likely to stay in man Cheney shot
Analysis: Cheney becomes unwitting focus
Man shot by Cheney to remain hospitalized
---
Texas officials said the shooting was an accident, and no charges have been brought against the vice president.
A report that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued Monday said Whittington was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing with Cheney.
"Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," the report said.
"I ran over to him," Cheney said. "He was laying there on his back, obviously, bleeding. You could see where the shot struck him."
He said he has no idea if he hit a bird because he was focused on Whittington.
"I said, `Harry, I had no idea you were there.' He didn't respond," Cheney said.
Whittington was reported doing well at a Texas hospital Wednesday, a day after doctors said that a pellet entered his heart and he had what they called "a mild heart attack."
Hospital officials said the Texan, though still listed in intensive care, had a normal heart rhythm again Wednesday afternoon and was sitting up in a chair, eating and planning to do some legal work in his room.
Cheney has been roundly criticized for failing to tell the public about the accident until the next day. He said he thought it made sense to let the owner of the ranch where it happened reveal the accident on the local newspaper's Web site Sunday morning.
"I thought that was the right call," Cheney said. "I still do."
Cheney said he agreed that ranch owner Katharine Armstrong should make the story public, because she was an eyewitness, because she grew up on the ranch and because she is "an acknowledged expert in all of this" as a past head of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He also agreed with her decision to choose the local newspaper as the way to get the news out.
"I thought that made good sense because you can get as accurate a story as possible from somebody who knew and understood hunting and then it would immediately go up to the wires and be posted on the Web site, which is the way it went out and I thought that was the right call," Cheney said.
"What do you think now?" he was asked.
"I still do," Cheney responded. "The accuracy was enormously important. I had no press person with me."
Armstrong told reporters that Whittington made a mistake by not announcing himself as he returned to the hunting line after breaking off to retrieve a downed bird. But Cheney, an avid and longtime hunter, said Whittington was not to blame.
Through hospital officials, Whittington has declined to comment.
"He still kind of wonders what all the hoopla is about," said Peter Banko, administrator of Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial.
Cheney was using No. 7 1/2 shot from a 28-gauge shotgun. Shotgun pellets typically are made of steel or lead; the pellets in No. 7 1/2 shot are just under one-tenth of an inch in diameter.
The pellet that traveled to Whittington's heart was either touching or embedded in the heart muscle near the top chambers, called the atria, officials said.
---
Lynn Brezosky contributed to this report from Corpus Christi.
---
On the Net:
White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov (http://www.whitehouse.gov)
© 2006 The Associated Press
Post by: Anonymous on February 15, 2006, 06:00:00 PM
used a camera to shoot Quail for now on!
Post by: Anonymous on February 15, 2006, 06:24:00 PM
Post by: Anonymous on February 16, 2006, 10:20:00 AM
Post by: Anonymous on February 16, 2006, 12:40:00 PM
Thats a good one.
Post by: Anonymous on February 19, 2006, 10:19:00 PM
Post by: Deborah on February 20, 2006, 03:49:00 PM
Harry Whittington Shooting Ballistics Tested, Cheney shot at Whittington from 15 feet not 90 as claimed
MEDICAL REPORT STATES WHITTINGTON HIT BY 200 of 262 BB's
At 90 Yards Majority of Projectiles Would Have Missed Whittington, Confirming Ballistics Test
Infowars | February 20, 2006
Read the report and watch the video here:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/che ... _proof.htm (http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/cheney_shooting_scientific_proof.htm)
Post by: Anonymous on February 22, 2006, 02:31:00 AM
Post by: Anonymous on February 22, 2006, 02:12:00 PM
Post by: Deborah on March 14, 2006, 02:00:00 PM
(02/14/06)
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued a statement today saying Vice President Cheney broke no law by shooting a lawyer instead of a quail over the weekend.
A TPWD spokesman noted that, in Texas, lawyers are not considered game creatures, and are thus not subject to seasonal limitations or bag limits.
It was further noted that lawyer hunting was encouraged as the state is overrun with the pesky creatures.
A local food critic said that, contrary to rumor, lawyers do not taste like chicken, but rather like bovine dung which is a major component of their composition.