ROANOKE TIMES
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 28, 1993                   TAG: 9311290159
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Medium


ORGANIZERS OF NEW BANK OFFERING SHARES OF STOCK FOR PUBLIC SALE

Eleven business and community leaders working to create a new bank in Pulaski County are offering up to 430,000 shares of its stock to the public.

The 11 organizers are buying 170,000 shares, or 40 percent, of the minimum offering. The rest is being offered for $10 per share with buyers deriving such benefits as a founder's checking account with regular service charges waived for at least the first year.

More than 100 people gathered Sunday at New River Community College to hear Wayne Carpenter, proposed president and chief executive officer of the new bank, and Hiawatha Nicely, one of the organizers, talk about the stock offer.

Other organizers are Sybil Atkinson, Jackson Bruce, Randolph Chrisley, Dr. Carole Pratt, David W. Ratcliff Jr., Dr. Nathaniel Tuck, James L. Webb Jr. and J. David Wine.

The organizers also announced the hiring of two key employees.

Cookie Dudley, who became the proposed bank's administrative assistant Nov. 1, worked for Carpenter for nine years at Virginia National Bank, now NationsBank, and for Webb at Old Dominion Insurance Services Inc.

Mary Wright, who has 18 years of banking experience, will join the staff Dec. 1 as senior vice president of operations. She has been vice president at the National Bank of Blacksburg for the past year.

The new bank is scheduled to have its permanent building at 900 Memorial Drive complete by next fall.

A tree located temporarily on the community college campus, symbolizing the bank's theme of ``We have our roots where others have their branches,'' will be transplanted to the bank site. The plan was to have the tree inside Martin Hall where the announcement was made, but Carpenter said it grew too fast to fit.

The proposed bank and its organizers were first announced eight months ago at a gathering in front of the old Pulaski County courthouse.

Since then, Nicely said, the organizers have visited eight community banks in Virginia and North and South Carolina to learn how they are structured and address their niches in their communities.

They have met with the Virginia Bankers Association and the Virginia Association of Community Banks to begin networking with banks in those organizations, attended director training sessions, and have been reading extensively from 12 books secured by Carpenter on directing and operating a bank.

``We've had everything but quizzes,'' Nicely said. ``This is an oppor

tunity for everybody in Pulaski to be in on the ground floor or something new and exciting.''

Further information is available from any of the organizers, by writing to P.O. Box 1060, Pulaski, Va. 24301, or calling 980-0831.



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