A 'Friendly' refusal

Who would have thought that a bank would actually refuse to take money. But sure enough, that's what Friendly Hills Bank in Whittier did this week.

They turned down a cool $1.6 million in Treasury bailout money that would have been used to buy up preferred stock in the bank.

Many banks have taken the billions available in government bank bailout money, of course. But here's one -- perhaps even the only one, though we're still checking --  to have applied for part of the billions available, and refused it once the government had approved it.

Officials seemed to shy away from saying it was a public relations coup. But I suspect it.

The word "government bailout" isn't exactly a marketing director's dream, even if your bank doesn't need the money.

Anyway, good for Friendly Hills. They can afford to refuse it. And in the end, that's got to make their customers feel good.