FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  98-101

SEC to Host Small Business Town Hall Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio

     Washington, D.C., October 9, 1998 -- The Commission today
announced that a small business town hall meeting will be held at
8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28, 1998 at the Sheraton
Cleveland City Centre Hotel at 777 St. Clair Avenue, Cleveland,
Ohio.  The small business town hall meetings, which are being
conducted throughout the United States, convey basic information
to small businesses about fundamental requirements that must be
addressed when these businesses wish to raise capital through the
public sale of securities.  In addition, the Commission hopes to
learn more about the concerns and problems facing small
businesses in raising capital so that programs can be designed to
meet their needs, consistent with the protection of investors.

     Brian J. Lane, Director of the Division of Corporation
Finance, will be the featured speaker of the Cleveland Small
Business Town Hall Meeting. Other speakers include Elmar
Koeberer, Deputy District Director for the U.S. Small Business
Administration, Thomas E. Geyer, Commissioner, Division of
Securities for the State of Ohio, and Teresa Kraus of the ACE-NET
program at Enterprise Development, Inc., Case Western University.
A question and answer period will follow the presentations.

     For further information, contact Barbara Jacobs, Deputy
Chief of the Office of Small Business in the Division of
Corporation Finance, at (202) 942-2950.  Or, please send an e-
mail message to the small business electronic mailbox at
"e-prospectus@sec.gov".

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