Controversy stirred at The Gorge Amphitheater

GEORGE - During festivals and large concert events, like Memorial Day's Sasquatch festival, The Gorge Amphitheater becomes the largest city in Grant County. County Commissioner Cindy Carter toured The Gorge last week to make sure that city has the services needed to support the more than 25,000 temporary residents.

She said Live Nation, the group that operates The Gorge, has added a large water main line, improved parking and emergency personnel access. They have also added security to prevent cliff climbers and will have physicians on-site for the first time to give IV drips to dehydrated patrons.

She said she is happy with Live Nation's progress, but not with their lack of cooperation with the Quincy Valley Medical Center.

"For the life of me I cannot understand why they won't share all of this with (QVMC)," she said.

QVMC and Live Nation have been at odds since last year, when about 100 concert-goers per day flooded the tiny hospital's emergency room during the Paradiso music festival, according to the hospital staff. One patron died from dehydration during the event. QVMC blames Live Nation for about $300,000 in unpaid hospital bills and $100,000 spent on additional staffing.

In a letter to Carter sent earlier this month, QVMC CEO Mehdi Merred stated neither he nor the hospital's attorney have heard any progress reports about issues that the hospital brought up after last year's events.

"Live Nation continues to be vague and unresponsive to the concerns brought by QVMC and other agencies. While Quincy Valley Medical Center would like to have a discussion with Grant County about Live Nation's proposal to have 'medical facilities' and add physicians and EMTs at The Gorge Amphitheater this year, we want to make it clear that this ambiguous proposal does not address the issues that QVMC and other local agencies brought to Grant County's and Live Nation's attention," he stated.

Carter, whose district includes The Gorge, said she feels like she is caught in the middle.

"But, I can't make them talk to each other. I wish that they would though. It would make this whole situation go a lot smoother if they would just talk to each other," she said.

Live Nation spokeswoman Jacqueline Peterson said the group does not have any comment. "We do not believe in handling disputes in the media," she said.

The Gorge General Manager Danny Wilde met with commissioners and hospital staff on April 2, but Wilde did not answer certain questions about specific additions to The Gorge because of their attorney's advice, he said. After an attorney from QVMC contacted Live Nation's attorney earlier in the year, Live Nation's attorney recommended suspending certain types of communication, he said.

Earlier this year, commissioners approved a Concert Management agreement with Live Nation that states in part that group must "continue to negotiate in good faith with Fire District No. 3, affected emergency services districts." In his letter to Carter, Merred asked that QVMC be added to that list for the 2015 agreement.

"I don't know if we can do that and frankly (The Gorge Manager) Danny Wilde told me that he would fight that," she said.

Carter said Live Nation pays $1.2 million to the county each year in admission taxes, and pays the county sheriff's office for staff and overtime. She said she is not sure if the county could legally transfer any of the money to the hospital or use it to offset the hospital district's debt to the county.

Merred said that with the first event of the year, Sasquatch, beginning later this week, he is concerned the hospital will again be stuck with unpaid bills from concertgoers.