Letters warn that ‘major disaster’ at the Gorge is imminent

Read the first part of this “On Assignment” investigation: Family says Gorge, Grant County have ‘blood on their hands’ for overdose death

As 21-year-old Patrick Witkowski lay dying in a hospital bed, the party continued at the Gorge Amphitheater.

Witkowski had been airlifted to Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee after a suspected drug overdose during the first of a two-day electronic dance musical festival.

He wasn’t alone.

More than 70 concertgoers required medical attention during the Paradiso Festival, many due to drug and/or alcohol intoxication.

It was a scenario that Grant County fire officials had warned would happen for years.

“The activities that are currently being allowed at these facilities would not be allowed at other privately operated facilities or any government entities,” read a July 2002 letter from Grant County Fire District 3 to the Grant County Board of Commissioners.

For nearly 15 years, Fire District 3, which must respond to calls for service at the Gorge, has pleaded with the Grant County Board of Commissioners to do something to bring the venue under control.

In letters obtained through a public disclosure request, the fire district complained of poor access to the Gorge during emergencies, encountering hostile crowds inside the venue, minimal security, rampant drug use, a lack of basic fire and EMS service inside the Gorge, and a shortage of personnel to respond to emergencies at the venue while still maintaining fire and ambulance service for Grant County residents.

As the letters point out, the Gorge becomes the most populated area in the county during a concert weekend. Nearly 29,000 people attended the Paradiso Festival last year. The population of Moses Lake, the county’s largest city, is less than 22,000.

“A number of our staff have been approached by many Grant County residents expressing their concerns of why we let this type of conduct to continue and whether there will be ambulance and EMS service available to them in their time of need,” the fire district wrote in its latest letter to the board of commissioners, dated July 12, 2013. “Just to reiterate, we have previously written letters concerning many types of issues at the Gorge, yet these types of activities continue.”

Fed up, the fire district issued another warning.

“It is apparent that a major disaster at the amphitheater or campground will happen unless changes are made. The only question is when and how many people may lose their life. The situation at the Gorge has to change.”

In an interview with KIRO Radio at their fire station in Quincy, Fire Commissioner Keven Gardner and Fire Chief Don Fortier expressed frustration that their warnings have gone ignored by county commissioners.

“Unless some changes are made, it wouldn’t bother me a bit to say ‘shut it down,'” Gardner said of the venue. “It might get their attention.”

The fire district has a crew of 79 volunteer and six full-time firefighters and medics. They’re responsible for 500 square miles of the county, not just the Gorge and its campground.

During the mass overdose at the Paradiso Festival last year, all ambulances from Quincy were at the Gorge, along with nearly all of the fire district’s volunteer personnel, leaving “the rest of the Quincy Valley without immediate ambulance and EMS Service,” according to one of the letters.

The local hospital, Quincy Valley Medical Center, was also overwhelmed.

On a typical weekend, the hospital would see an average of 10 emergency room visitors. On Paradiso weekend staff saw 120 patients, 72 of which came from the Gorge.

The hospital was so overwhelmed that it later asked Live Nation to help pay $400,000 in costs associated with treating concertgoers, something the company has not agreed to do.

State Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, has even proposed adding a $1 fee to tickets at the amphitheater to help pay for emergency services on concert weekends.

“If you look at the Quincy Medical Center, it’s designed to service 8,000 people and maybe one or two farm accidents a day,” Manweller said. “Then all of the sudden you bring in 30,000 kids, and they’re not 30,000 kids to go sit in a library.”

Much of the problems across the system stem from alcohol and drug use at the Gorge campground. Chief Fortier said his volunteers are forced to deal with combative patients who are high, drunk, or both.

“That’s really the root of all the problems, is what those folks are doing,” he said. “There needs to be stricter enforcement.”

Gardner said the behavior seems to be tolerated.

“If you want to have a good time with no law enforcement, not get in any trouble, and you just want to raise Cain, come to the Gorge,” he said.

And problems are not limited to substance abuse.

Obtained through public disclosure, KIRO Radio reviewed more than a thousand of pages of police reports and listened to dozens of 911 calls. Many involved assaults, rape, and theft at the Gorge campground.

“If they continue to let it go like it is, it’s not going to get better. It’s going to escalate,” said Gardner, who hopes their latest appeal to the board of commissioners will be the final letter they have to write.

“We urge you to take the necessary steps needed to make this a safe place for all to enjoy (…)Do not wait for the disaster to happen,” the fire district wrote following the events at Paradiso.

But Grant County Commissioner Carolann Swartz, who was elected to the three-person body in 2008, doesn’t think the Gorge is much of a problem.

“Yes, is the local fire district impacted? Absolutely,” Swartz told KIRO Radio. “There have certainly been challenges, but it’s nice to have a business like that here.”

In 2013, the county received about $1.2 million in revenue from admissions taxes paid on tickets to the Gorge. That’s up from $700,000 in 2012, according to the county treasurer.

Swartz noted that on a concert weekend, hotels are full and local restaurants and shops are busy.

“There are a lot of jobs that have been created because of Live Nation,” she said.

Swartz said the county’s role is to make sure the venue operates within its permits and within the law, just as any other business.

“We visit all the time,” she said. “So we keep our eye on things. We don’t try to intervene and interfere with business, as long as it’s going well.”

Swartz said she has been to the Gorge in her official capacity four times since 2008.

As far as the fire district’s concerns, Commissioner Swartz said she was unable to speak to the letters that were written to the board, but stressed that concerns about safety at the Gorge have not been ignored.

“That’s a statement that you could make, because obviously you don’t know what’s been done,” she said. “There’s been a lot of things done.”

She said Live Nation agreed this year to pay for around-the-clock ambulance service and increase the availability of free water inside the concert venue, two major concerns that stemmed from last year’s deadly overdose at Paradiso.

“Did it take a death? No,” Swartz said. “We were working on that prior to this.”

But Paul and Tracy Witkowski believe the changes are too few and too late.

Their son, Patrick, died of massive organ failure from exposure to high heat and an ecstasy pill that turned out to be methamphetamine – a pill he bought from a drug dealer at the Gorge campground.

“We’re not naive. We know that Patrick made the choice to take it,” Tracy said. “However, we feel there’s lot of responsibility with Grant County, the Gorge itself, and the promoters of these electronic dance music festivals. They should not be allowed to have that type of environment exist. As far as I’m concerned, they all have the blood on their hands.”

Carolann Swartz said the only person responsible for Patrick Witkowski’s death is himself.

“He happened to be a visitor to our county, as were all of his friends, who didn’t get him to our facilities on time,” she said. “So sometimes the anger is misplaced.”

Rep. Manweller, who lives in Ellensburg and has been to the Gorge for concerts himself, agrees. He said he does not want to turn the Gorge into a police state.

“They’re not parents. They’re not supposed to create some sort of pseudo nanny-state out on the Columbia River,” he said. “I fundamentally do not believe that Live Nation or the Gorge Amphitheatre are responsible for the patrons they bring in.”

Still, with the 2014 Paradiso Festival scheduled for June 27 and 28, Paul and Tracy Witkowski are concerned about what they call a “tolerance for drugs.”

One of Patrick Witkowski’s friends, who asked that his name not be used, said drugs like ecstasy are easy to find at the Gorge, especially during electronic dance music events like Paradiso.

“People walk around these campgrounds asking if people are looking for Molly,” he said.

Molly is a name given to a pill marketed as pure ecstasy.

On its website, the Gorge, which is operated by Live Nation, boasts a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and claims to have tight security.

“Everyone will be searched upon entry,” reads the warning. “You will need to empty your pockets and have all items examined.”

That wasn’t the case, according to one of Patrick’s friends, who said security, both at the campground and inside the event, was almost non-existent.

“Considering the drug use that takes place there, I think that the security is extremely minimal,” he said. “And I’m sure the people that put on the shows are aware that that kind of culture is involved.”

Gardner said until Live Nation or the county increase enforcement at the Gorge and, the problems will get worse.

“This is just another way of us trying to get our point across to the county commissioners that we’re out there, we see this going on,” he said. “You need to do something.”

Commissioner Swartz acknowledged that drug and alcohol use is high at the Gorge, but said it is no worse than any other venue. She also admitted that if the Gorge were to cost the county money rather than generate money, it would not be allowed to operate.

“It’s all about the dollar,” said Tracy Witkowski, who would like to see the Gorge shut down until the environment is under control. “They should not hold another event until the security, the safety, and the tolerance for drugs is dealt with.”

Her husband, Paul, said that is unlikely.

“Money is too important for Grant County,” he said. “They don’t care about human life.”

Both the Gorge and Live Nation have ignored repeated requests for an interview by phone, email, and in person.

Meanwhile, the summer concert season kicked off this past weekend with the Sasquatch! music festival, a three-day event featuring performances from bands like Outkast and M.I.A. More than 50 concertgoers were seen at Quincy Valley Medical Center.

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