Sad news. One of the better banks in the various local areas they operated. Quite personal and helpful. Sad part, also, is that had the Calif. customers not started, basically, running on the bank they might have weathered the storm since the customer base is huge. It has to be said, as well, that the old mgmt. made a big mistake in not taking an $8 / share offer---the CEO wanted it but the board members just did not want to take their losses (as now all the investors had forced on them).

On the bright side is that--unlike 1929 time---the transition was seamless for the depositors. JPM/Chase is now Bank #1 and, basically, got a gift from the gov't.

Oh yes, another nice thing ---the new CEO has been there less than, I believe 3 weeks---severance package---over 11million. Frankly, the times have changed and this seems obscene.

I did own some stock but, happily, sold because of a stop / loss order. Too bad---I kept the faith in the bank until the end and the folks at my local branch are just worried that their jobs are in jeopardy 6 months down the line since CHase has a branch about 3 blocks away. There seem to be more bank branches than grocery stores these days

Bill Hahn