TEWKSBURY -- Fifteen dogs and two cats were left in a van
outside a local motel for nearly six hours yesterday with the
windows barely cracked open. A witness said it must have been
like "Dante's Inferno."  One of the dogs died. And now a South
Dakota woman is facing animal-cruelty charges.  Police arrested
Margot Nickerson, 71, of 3700 S. Westport Ave., PMB 975, Sioux
Falls, S.D., at Motel 6 on Main Street and charged her with 15
counts of animal cruelty. Police said the incident remains under
investigation.  She faces arraignment in Lowell District Court
today.  Deputy Police Chief John Voto said police received a
phone call around 1:15 p.m. from someone reporting "a bunch of
dogs in a hotel room." When police arrived at the motel, they
found four or five of the dogs in a blue, 15-passenger Dodge van
with the darkly tinted windows nearly completely shut.  As the
dogs and cats were removed from the van, some needed assistance,
unable to move on their own. Some of the animals were hosed
down, others were give