Digitus Impudicus

Who Is Lucy Ramirez?

According to USA Today, Bill Burkett now says "Lucy Ramirez" gave him the documents.

Burkett now maintains that the source of the papers was Lucy Ramirez, who he
says phoned him from Houston in March to offer the documents. USA TODAY has been
unable to locate Ramirez.

...

Sitting in a rocking
chair in his weathered ranch house south of Baird, Texas, Burkett recounted his
continuing efforts - beginning before he was discharged from the Texas Army
National Guard in 1998 - to clean up what he saw as Guard corruption and
mismanagement. He said that activity led to a telephone call in March from
Ramirez and her offer to provide documents damaging to President
Bush.

Burkett said Ramirez told him she had seen him the previous
month in an appearance on the MSNBC program Hardball, discussing the controversy
over whether Bush fulfilled all his obligations for service in the Texas Air
Guard during the early 1970s. "There is something I have that I want to make
sure gets out," he quoted her as saying.

He said Ramirez claimed to
possess Killian's "correspondence file," which would prove Burkett's allegations
that Bush had problems as a Guard fighter pilot.

Burkett said he
arranged to get the documents during a trip to Houston for a livestock show in
March. But instead of being met at the show by Ramirez, he was approached by a
man who asked for Burkett, handed him an envelope and quickly left, Burkett
recounted.

"I didn't even ask any questions," Burkett said. "Should
I have? Yes. Maybe I was duped. I never really even considered
that."

By Monday, USA TODAY had not been able to locate Ramirez or
verify other details of Burkett's account. Three people who worked with Killian
in the early 1970s said they don't recognize her name. Burkett promised to
provide telephone records that would verify his calls to Ramirez, but he had not
done so by Monday night.

http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+CBS+backs+off+Guard+story&expire=&urlID=11705426&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fpoliticselections%2Fnation%2Fpresident%2F2004-09-21-cover-guard_x.htm&partnerID=1660


So, who is she? I certainly don’t know. So I hit Google for Lucy Ramirez’s in Texax.

Google Search Results

Laredo Morning Times, Friday, August 21, 1998
Page 14A

http://www.lmtonline.com/news/archive/082198/pagea14.pdf

"Students are complaining, said Lucy Ramirez, a senior at Alexander High School. "I need to leave earlier in the morning because it takes at least 10 minutes to wait in line."

http://www.lmtonline.com/

Laredo Morning Times
(956) 728-2500
11 Esperanza
Laredo, TX 78040

Laredo is about 300 miles from Houston.


Two entries for Lucy Ramirez in Houston:

Lucy Ramirez - (281) 858-1305 - 16607 Royal Mile Ln, Houston, TX 77084
Lucy Ramirez - (713) 675-6021 - 7426 Brownwood St, Houston, TX 77020
http://www.google.com/search?sa=X&oi=fwp&pb=f&q=%2B%22Lucy+Ramirez%22+%2Bhouston

There's a Lucy Ramirez who rungs the Nuestra Clinica del Valle in St Pharr, TX (about 300mi SW of Houston).
http://www.tachc.org/About/Membership/Member_Directory/NCV.asp


There's a Lucy Ramirez who's volunteered for the University of Texas Medical Branch (http://www.utmb.edu/) (http://www.utmb.edu/volunteers/recognition.htm)


There's a Lucy Ramieres who is:

Nuestra Clinica del Valle (NCDV)
PO Box Q, 1203 East Ferguson
Pharr, TX 78577
Tel: (956) 787-8915
Fax: (956) 787-2021
Principal Official(s):
Lucy Ramirez, President
Established: 1971

NCDV is a non-profit community and migrant health center that provides primary
care services to the indigent, primarily Mexican American population residing in
Hidalgo County in the lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. NCDV’s mission is
to deliver excellent primary and preventive health care services.

http://www.chci.org/publications/pdf/directory/regional_orgs-3.pdf

Now these last three could be the same person (medical field in common). But the point is that I hope USA Today is doing more than just sitting on its hands. I just sat here at my computer and did some basic searches. I have absolutely no reason to believe that the Lucy Ramirez from (St.) Pharr, Texas is the person, but I think it would be useful for USA Today to do a little looking, and starting with a person who’s a leader of a “migrant health center that provides primary care services to the indigent, primarily Mexican American population,” might at least be a place to start.

Lucy Ramirez is shown as a contact in a WIC (Women, Infants & Children) handbook (http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/PDFfiles/03chap3.pdf).

She's listed as:
Executive Director
Hidalgo County Health Care Corporation
1203 East Ferguson
Pharr, TX 78577
Tel: (956) 787-8915
Fax: (956) 781-4384

She also shows up in a listing of Regional and Local Hispanic Organizations (http://www.chci.org/publications/pdf/directory/regional_orgs-3.pdf which is an internal document of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute - http://www.chci.org/ )

Considering the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is essentially a Democrat group of Congress members, this might be ripe for more research. Is Lucy Ramirez a Democrat activist?
Somebody help me here. Maybe we can make some news. Maybe Ms Ramirez is just a community volunteer (and should be praised for that). But SOMEBODY needs to LOOK!