First, I would like to thank The Citizen for its support of Frederick Brown, Jr. Amphitheater during our 1998 season. We had a great year and owe your news staff many thanks for their coverage of our events.

I would like to note for the record, however, that the headline for Kay Pedrotti's article on the Amphitheater's year-end was somewhat misleading. The headline read, "Poor attendance at PTC's 'Spotlight' concerts dims amphitheater's profit picture."

As a city-owned facility operated by the Development Authority of Peachtree City as a nonprofit venue, the Amphitheater does not seek to make a "profit." Any revenue in excess of expenses goes directly into the amphitheater's capital improvement projects.

To name a few, those projects have included extensive landscaping and the addition of picnic tables (1995), stage renovation (1996), cast house renovation (1996), catwalk installation (1998) and lighting improvements (1998).

The beauty of the city's arrangement with the development authority to operate the amphitheater is that no one makes a profit at the expense of our patrons. Artists' agents are consistently surprised to learn that we can afford higher quality acts because there is no middleman making a profit.

Our ticket prices are based on the cost of the act, the artists' stage, hospitality, sound, lighting, backline and transportation requirements, advertising expenses and personnel expenses.

We make every effort to break even on our expenses and successfully accomplished that goal in previous years.

The addition of a second night to the Summer Concert Series was a decision that we made based on the volume of inquiries we received about the availability of tickets. We had more than 300 people in line for our 1998 lottery and were only able to sell tickets to the first 56 people.

Even after we sold out the series, our phones continued to ring with requests for tickets. We added Spotlight concerts to ease that demand.

But, what we learned is that people prefer the Summer Concert Series. There's just something about the appeal of a social occasion coupled with great oldies shows....

I would like to encourage those of your readers who are interested in becoming season ticket holders to call and have their names placed on our waiting list. We're excited about the addition of a second night and think the public will be, too!

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to clarify the amphitheater's nonprofit status.