Business Briefs 1 ? Private Eye Uses Experience Tp Start Business By-LORI MCELRATH Advertising Executive Thaddeus Cook is helping to take a bite out of crime in more ways than one. With nearly twenty years of experience in the North Carolina Criminal Justice System under his belt. Cook has established his own private investigative busi ness and has seized a^olden oppor tunity to give back to his commu nity. Diversified Investigative Ser ^ vices Inc. is^he name of Cook's business. "We provide loss preven ' ^jtion services for businesses to mini njk^Tinancial losesc4n the work he said. Cook organized the business in 1990 after ending a rewarding nine year career as a law enforcement officer with the Win-/ ston-Salem Police Departmme type of voice for people who can't articulate those different processes that might be associated with the Criminal Jus/ tice System, and the school exclu sionary system. That's what the ser vices are for, "said Cook. "What we're looking for are kids who might be experiencing some type of crisis either at home or in the crimi nal justice, or school systems,, that they or their parents are unable to resolve, We want to become an alternative to what's already offered in the community," explained Cook. "I hope to implement the programs in at least three communities in the triad." SBA Overhaul Of Small Business Standards WASHINGTON. D C - More than 47,000 businesses will become eligible for U.S. Small Business ^Administration (SB A) loan and pro curement program* under a major overhauLoi^SBA rules for assis tance, SBA Administrator Patricia Saiki announced today. Besides expanding eligibility and streamlining the process, the changes reduce the number of dif ferent standards from 30 to nine, account for eight years of inflation and. for financial assistance, estab lish a two-tier eligibility test under which a company can qualify as a small business if it meets test condi tions. The new rules have been pub lished in the Federal Register. "This is the most far-reaching overhaul of SBA size standards since the agency was founded," Saiki said. "It means that more than 47,000 small businesses that had been unable to qualify for SBA credit and federal contracting pro grams wilt become eligible for assistance. "As a result, the process is sim change," Saiki said, "eligibility will be expanded at a time when small businesses are hungry for credit to expand their operations and create new jobs," Saiki said. The most significant change ? establishing an "alternate stanJj.d" for 7 (a) loan program eligibility based on net income and net worth - was published as an interim fn. l rule and takes effect immediately. The rule was already in place for SBA's 504 Development Company loan program and the Small Busi ness Investment Company (SBIC) program. Extending it to the busi ness loan program will expand eligi bility to an estimated 47,000 small 11 1 1 1 i a1st uv/v CORPORATION COME J BORROW, BUY of |u*t 1 BROWSE 1 ? Easy Caah Loan * J*w?try Repair ? Bargain lfa?n? 723-1 234 1'W* art changtna ffca may Aim fit* thop* m 2828 UniwrtHy Parkway ] r?> NCaky <"?/? Vmco"? ar -* 11-3 p.m. only $5.25 Located in Best Western Regency Inn 128 North Cherry Street ? Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (919) 723-1150 .... Unemployment Claims Drop WASHINGTON (AP) ? The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment insurance during Christmas week dropped sharply to the lowest level in nearly tour years, the government said Thursday. An unexpectedly large decline ot 40.000 claims brought the level for the week fended Dec 26 to 291.000, the lowest since April 1989. It followed ^decrease of 29.000 the previous week and was the 10th drop in 14 weeks. ] Meanwhile, large retailing chains released figures in New York showing Christmas sales were even stronger than some anticipated. ' ' ? Christmas 1992 was the best in four years for retailers. However, since the spending outburst seemed largely financed by credit cards, some store own^s"are worried that consumers will revert to their frugal recessionary spending habits as the winter wears on. Nevertheless, the surge in consumer spending and. confident* since the election apparently has been strong enough to provoke a i response from mtfny employers. "It's very' clear businesses have become much more' confident about the economic landscape and that fact is making them go out and j hire," said economist Mark Zandi of Regional Financial Associates in i West Chester. Pa. The average wiis 332.500 during the latest period, down from 341,000 for the four weeks ended Dec. 19. ? ;.-j The Labor Department is scheduled Friday to report the unem- j ployment rate for December and total employment as measured by com* panies' payrolls. In advance, most economists were expecting payroll | employment to climb between 75,000 and 100,000 jobs. . , They expected the unemployment rate to sticlc^at 7.2 percent, where it was in November after hitting an eight-year high of 7.8;percent in June. By the end of this year, many economists believe the rate will be ? approaching 6.5 percent, but they said the confidence of business execu tives will be a critical factor. ? t ? - Two previous attempts by the economy to shake off its sluggish ness, in 1991 and 1992, stalled becau<^T5usinesses were not sufficiently encouraged to begin hiring again and tnus did not give consumers the wherewithal, in the form of job and income growth, to sustain the eco nomic acceleration. "This is the moment of truth. Is business going to respond or is it not? If it doesn't, then the consumer is going to run out of spending j power," said economist Robert G. Dederick of Northern Trust Co. in Chicago. During the latest week, nine states showed a decrease of 1,000 or more claims, led by California* with a decline ot 1 1,930. The drop was attributed to the holiday-shortened week and j# fewer layoffs. ~ \ Niflp fates reported an ;nrs> j of 1 .000 ? -r ?> w?. led hy Wiscon sin with 6,355. It repotted layolis m construction, transportation and manufacturing. The national claims figures arc adjusted to remove distortions from normal seasonal variations. The state numbers are not. Meanwhile, the number of claims filed under a special emergency program enacted by Congress last summer totaled 27,430 in the week ended Dec. 26, up ffc>m 25,209 the week before. 1 BUILDING TOMORROW TOGETHER: INVESTMENT "My philosophy is simple: The customer! Th? customer! The customer!" Matthew Brown Owner Big Apple Tire & Auto Service Center Brooklyn, N.Y. "On a daily basis, that means service, service, ser vice! My people are trained to listen and then follow through with the best possi ble work. But there's more. I believe I have a responsibility to pro vide employment, be a role model and simply be involved. I believe that the success of any business is bound up in the well-being of the com munity. By providing seed capital to me through their Specialized Small Business Investment Company (SSBIC) GM has shown that they share that philosophy" At General Motors, we are committed to building world class