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Court Sides with Family in Service Dog Case
COLUMBIA, Ill. (AP) -- An Illinois state appellate court panel is siding with a southwestern Illinois couple's push to let their autistic son bring his service dog to school.

The Mount Vernon-based 5th District Appellate Court has upheld a Monroe County judge's August temporary ruling that the dog be allowed into then-5-year-old Carter Kalbfleisch's school pending a full hearing.

The family argues the boy's development benefits from the dog and that the two are inseparable. The district counters that allowing the dog in the classroom in Columbia would endanger at least one student allergic to animal fur, and that the dog served no necessary educational purpose.

The district is paying to send Carter to the nearby Illinois Center for Autism.

No word yet on whether the district will appeal.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
12 18 09 by Newsroom
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