
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 2, 1991                   TAG: 9104020512
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EARLY TICKET BUY GOT POOR METRO SEATS

THE CITY of Roanoke was ready for the Metro Conference. All the games were good. The employees who worked this event did a super job! The shortcoming was in the tickets offered to the citizens who were asked to support the event.

Some of us did. My wife was the fifth person in line to buy our tickets on Nov. 1, 1990. She plunked down $174 for two people to attend all the games, not knowing where we would sit, but thinking we would at least not need binoculars to see the players.

Man, was that wrong! The ticket assignment was not the responsibility of Roanoke Civic Center officials - they did everything in their power to see good tickets were available. The tickets were sent to them by the ticket manager at Virginia Tech. The best went to the "big wheels" (the money folks), the next best went to the colleges, and what was left went to the "citizens of the valley." Folks, we got dumped on again.

I feel sure that if we had been told to go to the college and purchase our tickets, we would have done a lot better. A man who sat two seats from us brought his ticket Thursday before the first game.

Another thing, some city officials did not return calls about our tickets, after promising they would. So next time you citizens are asked to support something, make sure you find out where you will be sitting. E. THOMAS ENGLAND ROANOKE

by CNB