February 13, 2006, 09:36
Gordon LeMaireDriving in to work this morning the radio announcer stated Cheney peppered the man with buckshot!
Now, being a sort of country boy I know that
1) You don't hunt quail with buckshot.
2) A person is not peppered with buckshot
3) Had it been buckshot, he would not be recovering (unless he is recovering in the same manner as Yasar Arafat).
Just seemed to highlight the differences between someone who knows which end the shells go in and which end the shells come out, and someone who is clueless.
February 13, 2006, 10:48
GGWell, it's being characterized as an accident. The headline in the nearby Austin American Statesman, probably not a newspaper that loved Cheney, accurately described the situation as an accident, a mishap.
Whittington still in ICU after accidental shooting
Austin lawyer recovering after being shot by Cheney in hunting mishap
Whittington still in intensive care at Corpus Christi hospital
By Robert Elder, Sarah Coppola
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, February 13, 2006
Just before sunset Saturday, 78-year-old Austin lawyer Harry Whittington pulled off "a double": bringing down two quail with two successive blasts from his shotgun.
One of Whittington's hunting companions, Vice President Dick Cheney, wasn't as accurate.
A few minutes later, Cheney accidentally shot Whittington, according to Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, who was hunting with the pair on the 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch in South Texas.
Cheney sprayed Whittington with birdshot across his face, shoulder and chest, said Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the ranch in Kenedy County.
"He got peppered pretty good," she said. "He's going to be sore and bruised. But he was talking and communicating the whole time."
Armstrong was with the hunting party but in a nearby vehicle with her sister.
Cheney ran to Whittington and was the first to reach him, Armstrong said. Within seconds, Cheney's security detail, some of whom are medically trained, responded, and the others stepped back. The security team called for an ambulance, Armstrong said.
After a brief stop at a Kingsville hospital, Whittington was taken by helicopter to Corpus Christi's Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial, she said.
Hospital administrator Peter Banko said this morning that Whittington was in stable condition.
"Mr. Whittington rested well overnight and has been laughing and joking with the staff," Banko said, adding that Whittington will be evaluated again this morning. Banko said Whittington probably will not be released today. The doctor treating Whittington was expected to speak with reporters this afternoon.
"I don't know how much spray he has got," Banko said. "My understanding from the physicians is that after you get peppered, sometimes they need to do exploratory surgeries if it gets lodged in a little deeper. Sometimes, it's tweezers. I can't really comment on how extensively he was sprayed."
Although Whittington was in the intensive care unit, Banko said it was "a fairly common procedure" for someone with this type of injury.
Whittington has been receiving visits from family and friends. His wife, Mercedes, made the trip to the hospital with him, but Cheney, Armstrong and Willeford did not.
"He is just doing great," said Willeford, who visited Whittington on Sunday. "As my husband said, he has a twinkle in his eye. . . . It was scary, but fortunately he is going to be just fine. He is anxious to get on home."
Armstrong said Whittington was moved to the Corpus Christi hospital because doctors there would be able to perform more tests than Kingsville's hospital could.
Whittington, one of the founders of the modern Republican Party in Texas, is a regular visitor to the ranch.
He started working in Republican politics in the 1950s and, in the 1960s, drove the young George H.W. Bush around West Texas during his first congressional race.
In Austin, Whittington is perhaps best known for a high-profile, and so far successful, fight against city hall.
Six years ago, Austin condemned a downtown block owned by Whittington's family to build a $10.5 million parking garage at the city's convention center. Whittington has been fighting the city ever since.
He racked up two legal victories last year, and in January, the Texas Supreme Court denied the city's request to hear an appeal, reaffirming a prior ruling in Whittington's favor.
The Whittingtons and the Armstrongs are longtime friends.
Armstrong is the former chairwoman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission and the daughter of the late Tobin Armstrong, a cattle rancher and longtime power in Republican politics, and his wife, Anne, a U.S. ambassador to Britain during the Nixon administration.
The vice president's office didn't release any details about the shooting until Sunday afternoon and didn't explain the delay. A White House official, speaking anonymously Sunday night because he is not authorized to release the information, offered this explanation for the delay: "I think the first priority was on making sure (Whittington) got the medical care he needed and then get the facts together."
Cheney also has been a frequent visitor to the ranch. He spoke at Tobin Armstrong's October funeral.
Armstrong's ancestor John Barclay Armstrong, a Texas Ranger, settled the ranch in 1882 after winning fame for capturing outlaw John Wesley Hardin.
Willeford said she doesn't know whether Cheney and Whittington have hunted together at the ranch before.
Armstrong gave this account of the accident:
Whittington, Cheney and Willeford saw two coveys on the ground, one directly in front of them, with dogs on point, and the other 100 or so yards to the left.
"The idea was to shoot the first, then for the group to move ahead and shoot the second covey," Armstrong said.
After Whittington shot the two birds, he moved away to look for them. He had trouble locating one, so he told the group to move ahead.
Cheney and Willeford moved to the second covey. Unbeknownst to either of them, Armstrong said, Whittington had walked back near the group and was about 30 yards to the right of the vice president when Cheney fired at birds emerging from the covey.
Willeford added that the sun was behind Whittington, possibly making him difficult to see.
Armstrong said Cheney visited Whittington at the hospital Sunday, and "they had a great time."
Whittington was alert, sitting up and being talkative Sunday, she said.
"It's all OK," Armstrong said. "It's not that big a deal. Even Harry will tell you that."
February 14, 2006, 10:27
Neel McDonaldWonder (maybe Boyd knows this) how many non-elected sportsmen in Texas get a warning when caught hunting or fishing without having paid the tax to get all the right stamps? I'm pretty sure that "the Wal-Mart sporting goods clerk was too dumb to give me what I asked for" while likely true, probably wouldn't earn the rest of us a warning.
As for "Cheney the victim": BULL**** !!!!
Anyone who tries to pass the blame off on the shootee in this case is either: (1)a non-hunter who doesn't understand hunting safety rules; (2)an apologist for Cheney no matter what he does; or (3) a Bubba who does hunt but doesn't prioritize safety and has a "SH*T HAPPENS" bumper sticker on his truck right next to the one of Calvin whizzing on a Ford or Chevy logo.
One of the MOST FUNDAMENTAL rules of hunting is to KNOW (not suppose) where EVERYONE is before you point a weapon, to say nothing of before you pull a trigger. Anyone who does otherwise is, at least at that moment, a fool, not a victim.