The Business Division’s brick-and-mortar office will be closed promptly at 5 pm on Friday, December 30, 2005 and will remain closed through Monday, January 2, 2006 in observance of the New Year’s Holiday. We will reopen our doors at 7:30 am on Tuesday, January 3, 2006. Caution: This closure includes December 31st, the last day of the 2005 calendar year.

As an alternative to in-person service, the Business Division offers many of our services online, often at reduced fees. Access to these online services is ordinarily available around-the-clock except for periods of scheduled maintenance, including calendar year-end reprogramming, and during occasional unexpected outages beyond our control.

As we approach year-end, please note that on Saturday, December 31, 2005 online filing of business documents will be unavailable beginning at 5 pm and online filing of UCC/EFS/lien documents will be unavailable beginning at 6 pm. All online filing will be available at 6 am on Sunday, January 1, 2006. Any online filing transaction that is commenced prior to these online closures must be completed in all respects prior to the closure or it will be terminated and not completed.

This scheduled closure of online filing services is necessary at the end of each calendar year as part of the reprogramming of our computerized records management system. During the reprogramming, we change the date/time and numbering functions of the computer system in preparation for the next calendar year, including testing of the reprogrammed system.

Online searches and access to (and validation of) Certificates of Good Standing should remain available as normal.

We appreciate your understanding as to the necessity of these year-end maintenance procedures and related service interruptions.

Happy Holidays!

The Business Division