BUSINESS BRIEFS
Fees waived for late phone bills
Advertiser Staff
Hawaiian Telcom is waiving late fees for April and May following software errors that are causing monthly statements to arrive later than usual.
About half of all Hawaiian Telcom customers have received April bills and the rest will be mailed out by May 15, the company said. The company does not expect to catch up with the billing cycles until mid-June.
The problem is related to the transition of back office services from the phone company's prior owner, Verizon Communications. Hawaiian Telcom is Hawai'i's largest phone company.
MIDKIFF HONORED AS HUMANITARIAN
Bob Midkiff, the chairman of the board of the Hawai'i Theatre and the former president of the Good Beginnings Alliance, has been named Humanitarian of the Year by the Small Business Council of America.
Midkiff was presented with the award in Washington, D.C., along with $5,000. Midkiff said he will donate the money to the Good Beginnings Alliance, an organization designed to help children from birth to 5 years of age "be safe, healthy and be ready to succeed," Midkiff said. Midkiff remains chairman of the senior advisory committee of Good Beginnings Alliance.
TESTIMONY ENDS IN ENRON TRIAL
HOUSTON — After 54 witnesses in more than three months, testimony ended yesterday in the federal fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling.
The two defendants appeared upbeat shortly after the jury was released for the rest of the week.
"We feel real good about where we are right now," the 64-year-old Lay said outside the Houston federal courthouse. "We think, in fact, in the end we're going to prevail."
"It's been a long time coming," Skilling, 52, told reporters.
