  The distribution of holes in Sr$_{14-x}$Ca$_x$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$ (SCCO) is
revisited with semi-emperical reanalysis of the x-ray absorption (XAS) data and
exact-diagonalized cluster calculations. A new interpretation of the XAS data
leads to much larger ladder hole densities than previously suggested. These new
hole densities lead to a simple interpretation of the hole crystal (HC)
recently reported with 1/3 and 1/5 wave vectors along the ladder. Our
interpretation is consistent with paired holes in the rung of the ladders.
Exact diagonalization results for a minimal model of the doped ladders suggest
that the stabilization of spin structures consisting of 4 spins in a square
plaquette as a result of resonance valence bond (RVB) physics suppresses the
hole crystal with a 1/4 wave vector.
