Vice President of Certification and Licensing of the International Code Council

That's Dave's title, according to this article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about a guy who (in a five-week period, without taking a training course) passed all six exams the state of Pennsylvania requires of a building code official and residential building inspector, saving his township a ton of money in the process.

"That's amazing," said David Nelson, who hadn't known of anybody passing the tests without formal training.

Robot expertise comes in handy

Dave and a co-worker at Jaguar in the UK were called on to rescue two frightened men trapped upside down, dangling 15 feet from the ground, on the Robocoaster ride at an amusement park. When firefighters were unable to move a robotic arm that had become stuck, they called on the assistance of the Jaguar experts, who work with robotics.

Dave in fair fight

as city administrator of Harvard, Illinois.

In Iowa, Chairman Dave

heads Midwest Grain Processors Cooperative.

From Harlingen, Texas, WILLIE Nelson country . . .

comes this sensible editorial about the no-fly list, etc.

South Dakota state's attorney Dave (again)

Working on a commission revising the state's criminal code, Nelson was quoted recently:

Methamphetamine charges are piling up all over the state, Dave Nelson, Minnehaha County state's attorney, said. State law should be revised to take into account the various levels of meth possession, he said.

At Nelson's suggestion, a subcommittee of the state Criminal Code Revision Commission decided Friday that possession penalties be tied to specific amounts of the drug.

"I don't think one size fits all," Nelson said.

Nelson will devise a matrix of meth penalties, dependent upon amounts of the drug that people possess, for consideration by the subcommittee at its next meeting in August. Any proposal adopted by the full commission will be submitted to next year's Legislature.

Penalties for those who manufacture and sell meth should continue to be stiff, Nelson said. Those who are caught with huge amounts of meth should face prison terms ranging from 25 years to life, Nelson said.

"I like the rain"

Many Daves down under in the news

Dr. Dave Nelson is an Australian alcoholism expert.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, Dave is a long-time campaigner for aged care funding increases.

And back in Australia, as managing director of Queensland's biggest private power supplier, Dave threatened to pull the plug.

Officer David shoots self in leg

in Rhode Island. One citizen commented,

This is the second cop in about 4 years who shot himself. Why cant Coventry Cops figure out how to use a gun..I sure as hell dont feel save when a cop accidently shoots himself. What if he shoots an innocent by stander. There should be something seriously done to stop this from happening. First it was officer Courier now its officer Nelson,whos next?

Dave praises elder-abuse fighters

in Fresno.

In Spokane,

Dave runs a landscape architecture business, "Land Expressions, LLC."

More Daves running for office:

One in Miami, for clerk of the circuit court.

And one in Coon Rapids, Iowa, for city council.

Both are challenging incumbents.

David's wife is a percussionist:

Angela Zator Nelson.

Dave's the fire chief

in Waverly, Iowa.

Aren't all engineers whistleblowers?

Dave Nelson, identified as "a former CSX engineer and whistleblower " is conducting an investigation on the safety of railroad crossings.

"The thought is it's always the driver's fault at the crossings. It's not. It's the railroad's," he said.

Box in driveway scares Dave,

turns out to be a watch, a compact disc, and some toys, after the bomb squad does its work. Dave declines comment.

Dave the scupltor

has a piece depicting firefighter victims of the Storm King tragedy in Oregon. Appropriately enough, he lives in Marble.

The Champ

There's a David Nelson in the White House . . .

. . . as Director of the National Coordination Office for Information Technology Research and Development. Director Dave says his office is currently working on improving the quality and reliability of software, improving information security, developing computer modeling and simulations to medicine, manufacturing and nanotechnology, and detecting and responding to natural or man-made threats.

The program's $2 billion budget is aimed at coordinating activities across 13 federal agencies and partnerships with universities, national laboratories and private companies.

"You can change your situation through learning,"

says this Dave Nelson in the UK.

"This county feels strongly about its abalone resource"

That was Mendocino County (California) Judge David Nelson's comment in sentencing two poachers to prison for two years and banning them forever from abalone fishing.

In an approving editorial, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat opined:

To understand the magnitude of their crime: State law prohibits the commercial harvesting of abalone and limits an individual sports diver to 24 abs in a year. The defendants were trying to get away with abalone worth $23,000 on the black market, game wardens said. Safe to say, their fate will cause others to think twice when greed tempts them to exploit a scarce natural resource.