Wrapper

On Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:15:05 GMT, "Art"
<begunaNOSPAMPLEASE@mindspring.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Wrong again. Investigators showed up the night of the shooting but were
>turned away reportedly due to the fact that the ranch employees didn't know
>they had come to investigate a shooting. Check the CNN timeline. I gave
>Mike Klunker a link previously.[/color]

Please read the article below.

There was a guy ON THE RANCH that was contacted and said it was an
accident.

[color=blue]
>
>
>"Scott in Florida" <MoveOn@outa.here> wrote in message
>news:no39v1tc70qfileinrrbhn00ip5l6trunk@4ax.com...[color=green]
>> Looks like the conspiracy nuts are wrong again.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> Decisions on inquiry are his own, official says
>> Salinas based his actions on witnesses who he trusts
>>
>> By NANCY MARTINEZ Caller-Times
>> February 16, 2006
>>
>>
>> SARITA - The Kenedy County Sheriff's Department feels at home with the
>> Secret Service and the powerful people who go hunting on the Armstrong
>> Ranch, but is out of its comfort zone with the media circus that the
>> hunting accident involving Vice President Dick Cheney has attracted.
>>
>> Sheriff Ramon Salinas III said no one in the federal government has
>> told him or his deputies how to do their job. He was the one who
>> decided not to go to the ranch to investigate until Sunday, the day
>> after Cheney shot and wounded Austin lawyer Harry Whittington on a
>> quail hunt. Salinas based the decision on witness accounts and advice
>> from people on the ranch he knows and trusts, including a former
>> sheriff.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Everybody's been saying there's a cover-up from the time they heard
>> about this," he said. "That is not true."
>>
>> Salinas said he was barbecuing with his family at 5:30 p.m. Saturday
>> when he received a call from sheriff's Capt. Charles Kirk.
>>
>> "He told me he heard of a possible hunting accident on Armstrong
>> Ranch," Salinas said.
>>
>> Minutes later, Salinas got a call from a U.S. Secret Service agent.
>>
>> "He said the reason he was calling was to officially notify the
>> sheriff's department that the vice president was involved in that
>> shooting accident."
>>
>> Soon after, Salinas said, Kirk called him from the Armstrong Ranch
>> gate. He told him he was there with a U.S. Border Patrol agent who
>> didn't know what was going on.
>>
>> "I told him don't worry about it. I'll make a call," Salinas said.
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> Salinas called Precinct 3 Constable Ramiro Medellin Jr., a former
>> sheriff who lives on Armstrong Ranch and works as a ranch hand.
>> Medellin called Salinas back and confirmed the incident was an
>> accident.
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> It was at this point that Salinas decided to wait until the next
>> morning to send Chief Deputy Gilberto San Miguel Jr. to investigate.
>>
>> "We've known these people (witnesses) for years. They are honest and
>> wouldn't call us, telling us a lie," Salinas said. "I talked to an
>> eyewitness who said it was a definite accident. We knew Mr.
>> Whittington was being cared for."
>>
>> He told a Secret Service agent who called him that he would send San
>> Miguel to the ranch at 8 a.m. Sunday.
>>
>> Interviewing cheney
>>
>> San Miguel arrived at the Armstrong Ranch gate shortly after 8 a.m.
>> After he reported to the Main House, his vehicle was inspected - a
>> regular protocol on the ranch.
>>
>> Then, he parked and was escorted by a Secret Service agent to meet
>> Cheney.
>>
>> "I was introduced to Mr. Cheney and I sat down and spoke to him about
>> what had happened. I can tell you Mr. Cheney cooperated with me and
>> explained everything," San Miguel said, refusing to go into detail
>> about the 30-45 minute interview.
>>
>> "I could tell he was still upset. He was very, very upset. He came,
>> shook my hand and told me he was willing to cooperate with whatever I
>> needed."
>>
>> Mutual respect
>>
>> Salinas and San Miguel said the Secret Service has utmost respect for
>> their department, a relationship that has been refined through the
>> years, through the vice president's visits to the area.
>>
>> "They don't treat us like a backdoor police department, like someone
>> under them," Salinas said.
>>
>> Salinas said Cheney visits yearly and his department is contacted to
>> assist with the motorcade.
>>
>> "It's a multi-departmental effort," Salinas said. "It is DPS, Kleberg
>> County, Border Patrol and us. We all help as a courtesy. They've
>> (Secret Service) always told us they can't do this without our help."
>>
>> Salinas said the same courtesies were afforded to "Daddy Bush" during
>> his hunting visits. Others get courtesy services as well, San Miguel
>> said.
>>
>> "When undocumented immigrants' lives are at stake we escort the
>> ambulance to the hospital. When people die, we do the funeral escort.
>> We don't charge for these services."
>>
>> The investigation
>>
>> San Miguel said the case was not investigated as a criminal incident.
>> He also noted that there were no 911 calls or radio transmissions
>> between dispatchers and deputies because the calls went to the
>> sheriff's home.
>>
>> San Miguel and Lt. Juan Guzman interviewed Whittington at Christus
>> Spohn Hospital Memorial on Monday, San Miguel said. He wouldn't
>> divulge details of that interview until the report was complete but
>> said Whittington was in good spirits.
>>
>> Salinas and San Miguel said no one told them not to make details of
>> the incident public, nor were they told how to investigate.
>>
>> The department has not released an incident report, but will do so,
>> Salinas and San Miguel said. The crush of national media has slowed
>> the department, they said.
>>
>> "We'll get it, it just takes time," San Miguel said, adding that
>> normally no details are divulged until the report is complete. "We
>> want this report to be accurate."
>>
>> Media frenzy
>>
>> "We're just everyday small town people. We aren't used to this
>> attention," San Miguel said as he and Salinas took a toll of the open
>> records request faxes and phone call messages from the nation's
>> largest media outlets: CNN, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The
>> New York Times, ABC News, and several others.
>>
>> The calls from the media have been non-stop, they said. One business
>> contact said it took her five hours to get an open phone line, San
>> Miguel said. There are two phone lines at the department.
>>
>> "It's been overwhelming for us," San Miguel said.
>>
>> "They don't want to believe it's just an accident," Salinas said.
>>
>> San Miguel and Salinas walked from their office to the empty front
>> lobby, both taking a look from left to right.
>>
>> San Miguel caught himself and laughed, remembering the mob of
>> reporters who camped at the department Monday.
>>
>> "See, we're even looking for them now."
>>
>> --
>>
>> Scott in Florida[/color]
>[/color]
--

Scott in Florida