Nelson Phelps, President and Executive Director
ASSOCIATION OF U S WEST RETIREES
and AUSWR Board Members
and General membership

    In a message dated 11/23/2004 3:47:23 PM Mountain Standard Time, someone wrote to a retiree answering his or her questions stating as follows:

  . . . . This is reply to your inquiry about concession service.  This law suit covered those retirees who were receiving reimbursement and who also received a January 2004 letter from Qwest stating that Qwest would no longer reimburse retirees who lived in independent company territory.

  If you received the January 2004 Qwest letter, you are covered by this mediation agreement WHEN it becomes final.  While both parties are in agreement, the settlement has not yet been approved by the judge in the case. Only after the settlement is finalized will Qwest sent out letters to the retirees affected. We are hopeful this will be done during the first quarter of 2005.

  I am confident that no Qwest retirees have yet been notified by Qwest of the settlement. The last issue of the GUARDIAN contained an article on the "as of now still unfinalized" settlement.

    As . . . . , I share your frustration that this matter is moving so slowly, however our lawyer, Curtis Kennedy is skillfully steering our case to what I am sure will be a successful conclusion.  Please call me at . . . . or send an E-mail if you wish to discuss this further or if the above is not clear.

  Regards; . . . . . . 

  This caught my attention and I wish to correct the above statement. . .

      The letter was sent December 9, 2003 from Qwest Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Barry Allen to Mr. Colvin and members of the class and the letter contained the following text:  ³Dear Concession Participant,   As part of our responsibility to wisely steward our financial resources and to encourage and promote use of Qwest products and services, the company has made the decision to no longer reimburse retirees and employees for services not provided by Qwest.  Your December 2003 bill will be the last local service bill to be reimbursed.²

    If a retiree did not receive the December 9, 2003 letter (or was not part of the intended group to receive that letter) and did not in January lose the concession, he or she is not going to be a member of the class for the proposed settlement reached in the Colvin case.

    Presently, the trial judge assigned to the Colvin v. Qwest case remains out of the country for a few more weeks and the case is awaiting his return and decisions.  To date, the proposed settlement has not received preliminary approval and no formal notice has been sent to anyone.

    Curtis
CurtisLKennedy@aol.com
303-770-0440