Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Will The Fred now pay to fix tickets for featured entertainers?

On April 24, during the concert by K.C. and the Sunshine Band at the Frederick J. Brown Amphitheater in Peachtree City, the headline entertainer told a story about being ticketed by [a] Peachtree City [police officer] earlier that day for a golf cart violation.

The entertainer was interrupted during his humorous story by the amphitheater office manager, who publicly apologized to him for having received a ticket, and stated “You will not have to pay for that ticket, by the way.”

She gave him some gifts, which included a pair of binoculars to find the golf cart paths and a shirt with the amphitheater logo with an implication that the police would know better next time and not issue him a ticket. These actions of the amphitheater office manager need further clarification.

By her statement that the entertainer was not going to have to pay the ticket, she implied that the ticket was somehow voided (i.e., fixed). [Either] public money out of the amphitheater budget would somehow be used to pay for the moving violation, [or] private donations would be used to cover the fine. Which is it?

There should be an apology to the Peachtree City Police Department for the implication that they were somehow wrong in issuing a citation to the entertainer.

Interestingly, the entertainer did not appear to be asking for preferential treatment and was merely sharing a humorous story with the audience.

The office manger appears to assume that a contract to perform at the amphitheater includes immunity from obeying the laws in Peachtree City.

Harry E. Chambers

Peachtree City, Ga.

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