08:34 AM PDT on Thursday, October 20, 2005

Associated Press

For billionaire Paul Allen -- the world's seventh-richest man, by some tallies -- the bills were mere pocket change.

AP photo

Paul Allen, owner of the Portland Trail Blazers.

There was the $20 owed for cakes from a Portland catering firm, $200 to Mail Right, Inc., a direct-mail advertising firm, and $5,000 for fire sprinklers.

Still, even for such relatively paltry sums, it wasn't until the past several weeks, more than a year after these bills were due, that Allen finally settled his tab.

The companies were among the several dozen vendors that were largely stiffed when Allen's Oregon Arena Corp., which formerly ran the Rose Garden, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2004.

The bankruptcy culminated in Oregon Arena handing off the Rose Garden to Allen's lenders, leaving little cash to pay off small creditors. Bankruptcy court filings show that the company owed dozens of businesses a total of about $865,000.

Allen had no legal obligation to make up the difference. But lately, he has been voluntarily paying up, said several creditors that received checks from Oregon Concessions Inc., a sister company to Allen's Trail Blazers basketball team.

"Being a small business, I thought they won't pay us," said Jan Beaudoin, who owns A-Z Stamp and Engraving with her husband. She recently received a check for about $50. "I was real thrilled to get that."

The letters to vendors state: "The Oregon Arena Corporation Bankruptcy is closed out, OAC has been dissolved, and there was no money left over to pay a number of creditors like you ... While the Trail Blazers have no legal obligation to satisfy OAC's obligations, the Trail Blazers want to have a positive relationship with you and the rest of the greater Portland community."

"The bankruptcy court said we were so far down on the list that we wouldn't get anything," said Betty Kinniburgh, who owned Mail Right Inc. until a few weeks ago. "I was very surprised. I thought it was extremely nice of them to do that."

Not all of the small creditors have received checks to settle their debts, however.

Woodburn-based Integrity International Inc., which provided landscaping services, said it is still owed about $3,400. Farwest Golf is waiting for a check to cover about $200 worth of golf-cart parts, President Ken O'Neil said.

It is unclear why some smaller creditors have not received payment or how many letters went out.

"Out of respect to the ongoing legal process, we simply can't say anything beyond what we said in the letter," Art Sasse, Trail Blazers spokesman, told The Oregonian.