NOT ALL 'PANIC' FANS DEPICTED BY ARTICLE

I want to reply to the article about the Widespread Panic concert at
Mississippi State University ("53 drug arrests made at MSU concert," April 27).

I am part of an organization called Panic Fans For Food. We organize food
drives before Widespread Panic concerts as a way to give back to the
communities.

Since our inception in October 1999, we have gathered more than 6,000
pounds of food and raised more than $4,000 for local food banks across the
country.

It greatly disappoints me that journalists can offer such one-sided
articles including quotes like "People follow these bands strictly and
solely for the purpose of distributing illegal products."

This is not true.

Maybe if you presented the fact that the venue can hold up to 11,000
people, and the arrests made up less than 1 percent of this total, it would
put the events into a little better perspective" that these so-called fans
who engage in these types of activities are not representative of the group
as a whole.

Theresa Messenger, Panic Fans For Food, Arlington, Texas