User:BrittPedia/sandbox/Britt – Wikipedia

Britt Nelson is a columnist, former newspaper reporter/photographer/editor, novelist, playwright and poet currently living in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica. He began writing political commentaries for the Costa Rica Star News in February 2016 and proceeded to write and publish 357 right-wing political essays before turning his attention to other projects in 2019. He relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he retired as co-Executive Editor for the Palatka Daily News – owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group.

Nelson served NYTRNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, photographer, senior staff writer, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member. During Nelson’s time with NYTRNG, he won 21 local, state and national writing awards including three Chairman’s Awards – the New York Times’ highest internal award -- for Investigative Reporting given by then New York Times Chairman-of-the-Board Arthur Ochs ‘Punch’ Sulzberger Sr. His first writing award came in 1970 when he won first-place for poetry in a 3-day competition during the annual West Virginia College Performing Arts Festival in which more than 100 poets entered.

The largest newspaper Nelson worked for was the Rocky Mountain News in Denver – 1978 to 1981 – with a circulation of more than 1-million. While employed at the RMN Nelson was elected to the board of directors for The Newspaper Guild union covering both the RMN and The Denver Post. While on the board, Nelson portrayed RMN editor Michael Howard in a live satire spoof sponsored by The Newspaper Guild at a Denver theater depicting Howard abusing large amounts of cocaine and shooting off a hand gun in public at local restaurants. Howard resigned about a month later.

NOTABLE INTERVIEWS – During Nelson’s newspaper career he interviewed rock singer Tina Turner, porn star Marilyn Chambers, Colorado Gov. Dick Lamb, pro-baseball pitcher and U.S. Rep. Jim Bunning (KY), presidential daughter Linda Bird Johnson, North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, presidential candidate and political commentator Pat Buchanan, presidential candidate George McGovern, folk singer James Taylor, radio commentator Paul Harvey, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, rap singer Vanilla Ice AKA Robby Van Winkle, Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Vice President Al Gore, Florida Secretary of State and U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, country signer Lee Greenwood, Florida U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (KY) plus many prison/jail interviews with white and blue collar criminals, hookers, drunks and weirdoes of all descriptions.

In 1988, Nelson’s coverage in the Middlesboro Daily News of the murder of Lee County, Virginia Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Miller led directly to the arrest and conviction of former Kentucky resident David Wayne Mills. This killing was later covered by the popular TV series “Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack.” In this episode key information about the case was released by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. A burglar alarm installer that saw that show had found some of the key evidence above a false ceiling in a home in Illinois that Mills’ family had recently moved to from Kentucky. Among the items found was a Middlesboro, Kentucky bank bag, a 44-caliber revolver, spent shells, a black ski mask and other items. Because of the bank bag the alarm installer called the Middlesboro Daily News and was put in touch with Nelson who took his contact information and called police. Mills was arrested within hours in Illinois. Nelson was later hauled into court and sequestered by Mills’ lawyers demanding to know where he got his information. Attorneys from the home office of the New York Times defended Nelson at the Bell County, Kentucky Courthouse. In the end, Nelson did not reveal his source. He protected the alarm installer.

EARLY CAREER – In addition to newspapers, Nelson -- in the mid-1980s -- worked professionally in country music radio as a disk jockey and news director in Harrogate, Tennessee for WSVQ-740 AM; in television as a studio production assistant for children’s programming with WNVT-TV 53 outside Washington, DC; and in film making for the Public Broadcasting System as a grip, gaffer and assistant cameraman producing 16-mm educational movies for children in New York City and Washington in the mid-1970s.

EDUCATION -- Nelson graduated from the University of Denver in 1972 with a B.A. Degree in Mass Communications – Newspapers, Radio, Film and Television. He also attended Morris Harvey College in Charleston, W. Va., where he served as assistant editor for the “Comet” student newspaper during his sophomore year. During Nelson’s freshman year he won election as Freshman Class President. He graduated high school from Oak Ridge Military Institute near Greensboro, NC, after flunking out his junior year at J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Va.

EARLY LIFE – “I was 11-years-old in 1960 growing up in Washington, DC. I witnessed the 1960s explode before my very eyes. I went to see Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963. With my father and sister, we were standing on Memorial Bridge as President Kennedy’s funeral procession passed before us in November 1963. While smoke was still rising, I toured downtown Washington with my father following the riots of 1968 and the burning of hundreds of businesses and homes after Dr. King was shot dead in Memphis. These events -- along with much more including violent anti-Viet Nam War protests -- shaped my future.”

At eight-years-old, Nelson’s first job was a morning newspaper delivery boy for The Washington Post in his Lake Barcroft neighborhood where he lived. After seven years his route grew from 30 papers to more than 500 customers. He retired at 15 to become a certified life guard on the beaches of Lake Barcroft.

Born in the late 1940s in New York, Nelson is the son of Grover and Frieda Nelson. The Nelson’s moved to Falls Church, Va., in 1954 after his father was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a White House landscape architect working as a civilian for the U.S. Navy’s Facilities Engineering Command. Grover Nelson was on the original design team for the building of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Co., and he helped guide the long-range development plan for the presidential retreat Camp David in Maryland. During World War II Grover Nelson was a “Flying Tiger” in the U.S. Army-Air Force serving in India, Burma and China.

FIRST INTERVIEW – Nelson’s first controversial interview came in 1965 as a reporter for his high school newspaper and English-class student. His assignment was to go out and locate the most controversial person you can find, conduct an interview and write a story about them. Nelson and follow classmate --Chip Kann -- proceeded to interview George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, at their headquarters in Arlington, Va. The interior of their headquarters was full of unforgettable, authentic Nazi memorabilia from World War II.

“That man scared the hell out of me, but I learned a valuable lesson to be fearless in my reporting.” Two years later Rockwell was assassinated by his own people at a shopping center in Arlington.

PERSONAL LIFE – Twice divorced, Nelson met the love of his life -- Jeni Strange from Cave City, Ky. -- during a short-stint working at K-Mart in Middlesboro, Ky., and married her in 1987 at his parent’s home in Harlan, Ky. Jeni Nelson died of cancer in September 2006. They had one son -- Coady B. Nelson -- who died of a drug overdose in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica in June 2015 at the age of 26. Nelson’s other son -- Jesse C. Nelson -- lives in Ketchikan, Alaska where he works as a professional chef. Nelson has one sister – Robin Frank – who owns Vision Interiors in Leavenworth, Kansas.

FIRST LOVE – Nelson first met Charlene Apple in the mid-1950s at the Sleepy Hollow Elementary School in Falls Church, Va. They were neighbors and they rode the same school bus for years. The pair began dating in high school. Nelson flunked out of J.E.B. Stuart High School his junior year and transferred to an out-of-state military high school, but they continued dating during holidays and summer vacations. Charlene was set to graduate high school in 1967, but she didn’t make it.

“I remember my mom calling me at military school to inform me that Charlene had been killed in a car crash on her way to school. I went numb. I have carried that girl in my heart ever since. Her memory became my gold standard for future relationships.”

CURRENT PROJECTS – BAMBI ANGELINA

After four years in development and six months of writing Nelson finished the novel “Bambi Angelina” – the true story of Costa Rica’s most successful hooker of all time who inherited millions in cash, real estate and stocks from rich American men during her 16-year career. It’s also a beautiful story of Christian redemption for this young girl forced into prostitution by her own mother. The manuscript is under screenplay adaptation by Christian filmmaker Nickolas Alexander of Medford, Oregon.

“Bambi Angelina” was first published in July 2018 on Amazon.com.

https://www.amazon.com/Bambi-Angelina-Costa-Ricas-Hooker-ebook/dp/B07FJPVPZN

Millionaire Hooker Tells Her Story - The Costa Rica Post

http://thecrpost.com/2019/09/22/millionaire-hooker-tells-her-story/?fbclid=IwAR0qYDBgJ_cx1F5ghEWNM2ElSvnISUY1bAzE_vvJlMp-8XWPpJlvfclR-1k

Millionaire Hooker Tells Her Story - The Costa Rica Post admin

By Britt Nelson I remember the first time I met Bambi Angelina in mid-2013 when she was 31. I was sitting on my ...

The Bambi Angelina Story Facebook page is where Nelson keeps followers up-to-date with developments concerning Bambi Angelina: The Movie.

https://www.facebook.com/The-Bambi-Angelina-Story-1088379937988216/

Hard copy published in the USA: https://www.mcdesignprint.com/product/237.

THE MORRISON SHOW -- In 1979, Nelson began writing “James Douglas Morrison: A Rock & Roll Musical” in Colorado. After numerous rewrites and copyrights Nelson finally finished it in 2014 in Costa Rica. It’s the only known-to-exist -- full-length, 3-act live-theater stage production -- involving front man Jim Morrison and the music of the Doors – that was published on Amazon.com in July 2018. It remains unproduced.

https://www.amazon.com/James-Douglas-Morrison-Rock-Musical-ebook/dp/B07G38TXPY

POETRY COLLECTION --

Nelson’s collection of poems “Blue Green With White” he first started writing at eight-years-old was also published on Amazon.com. He performs live-standup readings of his original poems at book stores, coffee shops, ‘open-mike-nights’ at night clubs and bars.

NOTABLE RELATIVES --

Famed Poet Bob Holman, of New York City, is Britt Nelson's first-cousin. Their mothers are sisters from Harlan, Kentucky. Bob and Britt grew up together. “Bob was a huge influence on me.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Holman

U.S. Navy Admiral John Hoskins was Nelson's mother's first-cousin. In 1937, Hoskins commanded the 7th-Fleet in the South Pacific during the official search to locate missing aviator Amelia Earhart who disappeared on a record-breaking around-the-world flight in July 1937. He went on to command air craft carriers during World War II. His right leg was blown off during the Japanese air attack on the USS Princeton. The Hollywood movie “The Eternal Sea” starring Sterling Haydon was all about Admiral John 'Peg Leg' Hoskins. He was the first navy pilot to take off and land a jet airplane on an aircraft carrier. After retirement, Hoskins lived close to the Nelson family in Falls Church, Va., on Lake Barcroft outside Washington. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Britt and ‘Uncle John’ were the best of fishing buddies from 1957 to 1964.

https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/31/archives/vice-adm-john-hoskins-dead-saw-action-in-pacific-and-korea-navy.html

Links to news stories about Nelson:

http://news.co.cr/coady-b-nelson-kentucky-1989-costa-rica-2015/40603/.

http://news.co.cr/musical-jim-morrisons-life-written-costa-rica/37140/.

http://www.costaricantimes.com/local-jaco-resident-pens-morrison-musical/32415.

http://news.co.cr/the-old-news-today-exhibit-at-the-patio-bar-and-restaurant-in-jaco-costa-rica/25450/.