WAOW - Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, SportsChautauqua founder resigns
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Associated Press - September 22, 2009 5:35 PM ET
WASHBURN, Wis. (AP) - The founder of the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua in northern Wisconsin has resigned two months after being sentenced to nine months in jail for sexually assaulting a 56-year-old woman.
The Big Top Chautauqua Board of Directors issued a statement Tuesday accepting Warren P. Nelson's resignation, effective immediately, and his apology.
Nelson, of Washburn, was the artistic director and a regular performer at the Big Top, the annual spring-through-fall music venue he founded under a large tent at Mount Ashwabay. Public radio broadcast the shows nationwide.
The 62-year-old pleaded no-contest to misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault and two counts of misdemeanor battery involving a female friend. Two counts of more serious felony second-degree sexual assault were dismissed in a plea bargain.
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