First National Bank of Christiansburg finally broke ground for its new branch on East Main Street in Floyd Friday with the traditional symbolic turning of spades of dirt on the site next to Autoville.

Once construction actually starts on the long-anticipated, and often-delayed, branch it may put an end to the naysayers who claim the bank would never actually build in Floyd.

It also means more competition for The Bank of Floyd at a time when more and more customers want the convenience of electronic banking -- something the local bank has long promised but not yet delivered.

A number of Floyd County residents already have accounts at FNB and others have told me they plan to drive over to Riner soon to open an account to get ready for the new kid in town. With new businesses slated to open soon at Village Green and the town's downtown rehab project moving ahead at full steam, FNB may have picked the right time to move into town.

But FNB, which recently announced a "merger" with Virginia Financial Group of Charlottesville, faces a proxy fight started by disgrungled board members who feel the "merger" is really a "takeover" that will move control of the bank to Charlottesville and cost area residents their jobs.

Stay tuned. Proxy fights can be both fun to watch and bloody.