ATLANTA - The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced that federal disaster loans are available to small businesses located in the counties of Cherokee, Chesterfield, Dillon, Greenville, Harry, Lancaster, Marlboro, Oconee, Pickens, Spartanburg and York counties in South Carolina as a result of drought and high temperatures that occurred Jan. 1, 2007 and continuing.

"These counties are eligible because they are contiguous to one or more primary counties in the North Carolina. The Small Business Administration recognizes that disasters do not usually stop at county or state lines. For that reason, counties adjacent to primary counties named in the declaration are included," according to Frank Skaggs, Director of SBA Field Operations Center East.

Under this declaration, the SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to farm-related and nonfarmrelated small business concerns and small agricultural cooperatives that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this disaster.

Interested business owners should call 1-800-659-2955 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. EDT. Loan applications can be downloaded from www.sba. gov/services/ disasterassistance. Completed applications should be mailed to U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76155.

Completed loan applications must be returned to SBA no later than May 12, 2008.