'Over the top' for a Gainesville bank

GAINESVILLE - A Gainesville bank president got a surprise Friday morning as the bank celebrated a successful capital campaign for 2011.

The Peach State Bank and Trust goal for the year was an additional $3.5-million, but it ended the year with just over $4.5-million, a tough thing to achieve in a recession economy. Banking officials said it could not be done, so it was time for an end of the year celebration and give bank president Ron Quinn a surprise.

"It was a great day to celebrate but it was a total surprise, I was not expecting this," Quinn said. "I looked out and saw my wife, my boys and my mom standing there and this was great."

Quinn said in the challenging banking environment the state of Georgia is in, with the state hit hard by a national economic downturn, a successful capital campaign is a rarity.

"With a $3.5-million goal a lot of people around the state told us it couldn't be done," Quinn said. "Our legal firm in Atlanta said no other banks had been successful doing that, but the belief the community has in Peach State Bank allowed us to go out there and exceed our goal by over $1-million with $4,571,875 as of today."