It's not a DWI, it's a ZWI.

[Shockeye]

New Jersey Zamboni Operator Accused Of DWI At Rink

POSTED: 7:34 am EDT June 28, 2005

MORRISTOWN, N.J. -- A Morris County employee's Zamboni driving days are on ice.

Authorities say John Peragallo was drunk when he drove the four-ton ice-cleaning machine at Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown on Sunday.

Police said an employee reported that the machine was speeding and nearly crashing into boards.

Police say Peragallo had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12. Persons are legally drunk in New Jersey at 0.08.

The 63-year-old was given a summons and a July court date, where he'll risk losing his driver's license for motor vehicles and Zambonis if he's convicted.

Peragallo has worked for the county park commission since 1994.

[tazelbain]

Slick due, real slick.

[WayAbvPar]

I thought you had to be drunk to operate a Zamboni in the first place.

[schild]

Slick dude, real slick.

I fify, but goddamn was that terrible.

[Furiously]

He's not a nice man, he's an ice man.

[Bunk]

Its sad that I knew exactly what this article was about just from your silly headline.

On an aside - I just realized that with all the recent furor over your/you're on these days, I'm finding myself noticibly pausing and thinking about it every time I type your/you're, even if i had it right in the first place. Damn Grammer Nazis.

[schild]

He's not a nice man, he's an ice man.

Welcome back from your week long hiatus...

...ya bastard.

[Yegolev]

Damn Grammer Nazis.

It's spelled "Grammar".

[schild]

See. That's funny. And I wish I'd noticed it first.

[Bunk]

This forum really needs a spell-checker.

[Furiously]

He's not a nice man, he's an ice man.

Welcome back from your week long hiatus...

...ya bastard.

Someone left at work - I got their work. I'm finally getting everything under control.

...and yes I am..

And thats wood be a spelchacker.

[Shockeye]

Drunk Zamboni man couldn't hit blue line
 
Graeme Hamilton
National Post

Saturday, August 13, 2005

MONTREAL - A judge has fined a Victoriaville, Que., man $1,350 and suspended his driver's licence for a year after the man pleaded guilty this week to driving a Zamboni with four times the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

Police were called to Pavillon Jean-Beliveau last Oct. 9 after spectators at a hockey match became alarmed by the erratic conduct of Lionel Laquerre, a municipal employee, at the wheel of the ice-resurfacing machine.

"They had noticed that the driver smelled of alcohol and that he was making manoeuvres described as dangerous on the rink," Jean-Francois Royer, a Victoriaville prosecutor familiar with the file, said yesterday. "He was running into the boards, he was turning in circles. He was not cleaning the ice like you would normally expect it to be done."

Police officers surmised Mr. Laquerre was in an advanced state of inebriation, but before placing him under arrest they checked with a lawyer to make sure impaired Zamboni driving is a crime.

"It's not every day the police are confronted with drunk Zamboni drivers," Mr. Royer said.

They were advised that a Zamboni is considered a motor vehicle under the Criminal Code, and they took Mr. Laquerre to the police station. A blood-alcohol test found he had 314 milligrams of alcohol for 100 millilitres of blood, nearly four times the legal limit of 80 mg.

"Higher than that and there's a danger of coma," said Mr. Royer, whose colleague Gerald Milot handled the case but was not available for comment yesterday.

Quebec Court Judge Gilles Bergeron heard that Mr. Laquerre, 56, has since lost his job with the city and has not had a drink since being arrested. Under an agreement with the Crown, Mr. Laquerre pleaded guilty to one charge involving the Zamboni. He had also been charged with refusing to take a Breathalyzer after he was found behind the wheel of his car the same night, but those charges were dropped.

Mr. Royer said it was the first case of impaired Zamboni driving he had come across in nearly 20 years of practice. "It's typically Canuck," he said.