To the Source:
As one who very much enjoyed Bacchanal 1999, as did my wife, Lynn, and who had planned to attend this year until business plans interfered, I have to say that the reaction to the Source's story on Bacchanal 2001 seems a bit overwrought.
To me, your story gave an account of a great time, which Lynn and I regret having missed, and I regard it as pretty good p.r. for the Bacchanal. That there was comment about the bar running out of Heineken otherwise known as Offshore Toothpaste) seems fair reporting to me, and certainly a tribute to the Bacchanalians' good taste. Better to just remember to order more next year, and note that similar tragedies have occurred at more than a few national trade association conventions.
As for the price being a few bucks more this year, what isn't costing more? Not a particularly newsworthy item, but apparently factual. Still, what does it add to the story?
As for the references to a lack of reporting on expenditures, it seems that what the writer may have intended as a depiction of the carefree approach that many volunteer groups have came across as questioning the fiscal responsibility of the event's organizers. I am confident that the Source didn't mean to ascribe to the Bacchanal Committee the historic fiscal artistry of the Virgin Islands government, which has long been the envy of municipal and state governments from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
See you in JAX [Jacksonville] next year.
John Thompson
Fairfax, Va.
