Fayette County residents who pine for the old days of

locally-controlled banks may soon have their wish granted.

A local group, headed by long-time Fayette County banker

Gary McGaha, announced last week that an application had been

filed with the FDIC to start Southern Community Bank.

The new bank would be built at 525 North Jeff Davis Drive

and be totally operated by local residents. In addition to McGaha,

the organizing group includes:

Stan Cameron, attorney.

G. Ronald Davis, retailer.

Bob Dixon, builder.

Wayne Leslie, commercial contractor.

Jake Mask, tire store owner.

Dan Stinchcombe, builder.

Tom Reese, builder.

Michael Reid, golf cartpath contractor.

McGaha, who is the proposed president and CEO of the

new venture, said the time is right to start a new bank since

the economy is still booming, and Fayette County needs a

hometown bank.

"A small community bank can give better service. All

decision making powers will be handled by local people," he said.

The group started talking about creating the bank during the

end of 1998 and filed their application with the FDIC April 6.

McGaha hopes to receive approval back from the

regulatory agency by July and would like to start selling stock in the bank

in the late summer. He's hoping to sell 750,000 shares at $10 a

share for an initial capitalization of $7.5 million.

McGaha has worked in banking in Fayette County since

1963, most recently at Heritage Bank. He left Heritage at the end

of February and has since been working full-time on making

Southern Community Bank a reality.

If everything goes as planned, McGaha hopes to start

construction on the 14,000 sq.ft. bank headquarters in the summer

and have it up and running during the first quarter of 2000.

Fayette County's last local bank, Fayette County bank,

was recently sold to Regions Bank in Alabama.

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