Parachutists nixed for bank skyscraper’s party

RALEIGH — A financial institution opening a new office tower in Raleigh won’t have parachutists jump from the 33-story building during a celebration because of the country’s
ongoing financial meltdown.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Thursday that RBC Bank officials worried that parachutists scheduled to leap from the skyscraper could remind people of stories from the Great Depression of bankers and stockbrokers jumping from buildings to their deaths.

The building is the city’s tallest. A celebration of its opening was planned for Thursday.

Bank spokeswoman Jamie Averette Mitchell said executives didn’t think this period of financial turmoil was the right time to have people jumping from a bank building.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)