I'll just copy and paste it:
Woman fined $100 for drunk dog
By Jeff Long
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 22, 2006, 8:33 PM CDT
No strangers to testifying in drunken-driving cases, two Island Lake police officers found themselves in unusual circumstances Monday when they described the telltale effects of alcohol on a chihuahua named Chico.
"I smelled an alcoholic beverage," Officer Matt Duchemin testified. "I observed the dog seem confused and disoriented."
In a McHenry County courtroom usually reserved for traffic citations and petty offenses, the nitty-gritty legal routine of the northwest suburbs, the bench trial also included expert testimony, phone records and the cross-examination of witnesses.
In the end, Circuit Judge John Bolger ruled that Chico was intoxicated while in the care of Diane Marcotte, 50, of Island Lake. He fined her $100 on the misdemeanor charge of failing to provide humane care and treatment for a pet.
"I think it stinks," Marcotte said afterward.
Marcotte still faces a DUI charge and counts of endangering her two children, who were in her car March 13 when police stopped her after she picked up her son at Cotton Creek Elementary School. That case will be in court next month.
Marcotte represented herself in the dispute about her former pet Chico, a 5-month-old puppy that police say was also in the car—and drunk.
The dog has been confiscated and placed with a new owner. Marcotte said she asked for a trial to clear her name.
On March 12, the day before police were called to the school, Marcotte was cleaning out her car about 8:30 p.m., she testified
She told Bolger that she took a glass of wine into the garage and must have left it in the car.
The following afternoon, Chico bounced into the garage, apparently eager to ride along when Marcotte left to pick her son up from school.
"Chihuahuas are very hyper dogs," Marcotte said. "He jumped into the car and knocked the glass of wine over."
Marcotte said she went to the kitchen to get a towel, and when she returned the dog was shaking in a sort of "seizure." She testified that she picked up the dog and ran into the house. "I asked Chico, 'Are you ok?'" she said.
Unable to reach her vet, she called an emergency veterinary service in Crystal Lake, which advised her to bring the dog in for examination, she testified. Marcotte produced phone records in court showing those calls.
Eager to get help for Chico, she told the judge she drove past the line of school buses and up onto the sidewalk at the school to get her son as quickly as possible.
"It was an emergency, in my opinion," she said.
School officials called police, who conducted field sobriety tests and arrested her on the DUI and child endangerment charges. Marcotte was charged with DUI again the following week in Hoffman Estates.
Island Lake Police Officers Duchemin and Andrew Klem testified that they smelled alcohol on the breath of both Marcotte and Chico.
"The dog was shaking vigorously," Klem told the judge. "It did have a strong odor of alcohol emitting from its breath."
McHenry County Animal Control Officer Sean Graff arrived at the school and wrapped Chico in a towel. In court, he described the dog as "lethargic" and "whimpering."
Veterinarian Alicia Ratni testified that Chico was drunk. Under cross-examination by Marcotte, she said as little as a tablespoon of an alcoholic beverage could have made the dog tipsy.
Marcotte asked whether dogs often slurp up anything they find on the ground.
"That's a possibility," Ratni answered.
"I was not pouring it into his water bowl," Marcotte said. "The last thing I wanted to do was hurt my dog. And when I saw something was wrong, I was immediately on my way to get help."
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Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
. My first concern would be her ripping into the school zone under the influence though. 
