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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                            SECTION 302 CERTIFICATION

I, Charlie W. Brinkley, Jr. certify that:

     1.   I have reviewed this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of Southern
          Community Bancorp (the "Issuer");

     2.   Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
          statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
          necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
          under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to
          the period covered by this report;

     3.   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
          information included in this report, fairly present in all material
          respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
          of the issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

     4.   The Issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for
          establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
          defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
          control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
          13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Issuer and have:

          (a)  Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
               disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
               Issuer, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
               us by others within those entities, particularly during the
               period in which this report is being prepared;

          (b)  Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
               caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
               designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
               regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the
               preparation of financial statements for external purposes in
               accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

          (c)  Evaluated the effectiveness of the Issuer's disclosure controls
               and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about
               the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
               of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
               evaluation; and

          (d)  Disclosed in this report any change in the Issuer's internal
               control over financial reporting that occurred during the period
               covered by the Annual Report that has materially affected, or is
               reasonably likely to materially affect, the Issuer's internal
               control over financial reporting; and

5.   The Issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our
     most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the
     Issuer's auditors and the audit committee of the Issuer's board of
     directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

          (a)  All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
               design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
               which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Issuer's
               ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
               information; and

          (b)  Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
               other employees who have significant role in the Issuer's
               internal control over financial reporting.


Date:    August 7, 2003


/s/  CHARLIE W. BRINKLEY, JR.
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Charlie W. Brinkley, Jr.
Chief Executive Officer