Topeka ? James Trendel was stunned to hear that loans for his Ottawa lumber company had been part of a program designed to help businesses recover from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Trendel didn’t know that $775,000 he borrowed through the federal Small Business Administration in 2002 was drawn from the post-Sept. 11 program until The Associated Press contacted him. In fact, he said Friday, he wasn’t even aware of the program.

“I was completely unaware of it,” Trendel said. “I don’t know what to think.”

His reaction wasn’t unusual among the thousands of businesses across the nation receiving such loans. Contacted by AP, some said they weren’t aware that their lenders had tapped into two programs. An AP review of records from the SBA showed that 86 Kansas companies received $27 million in loans under the Sept. 11 recovery programs from late November 2001 to mid-January 2003.

AP reported Thursday that businesses as diverse as doughnut shops and motorcycle dealers far from New York and Washington got loans from the Sept. 11 programs – even as businesses close to the attack sites struggled for help. On Friday, the chairwoman of a U.S. Senate committee announced an investigation, saying she wanted answers from lenders and the federal agency.

Kansas’ economy did suffer after the terrorist attacks because aircraft manufacturing and related businesses are major employers, particularly in the Wichita area.

Twenty-seven percent of the loan dollars under the two programs went to businesses in Wichita or nearby cities, according to records. Thirty percent went to companies in Johnson County, which faced layoffs in the telecommunications industry.

About $4.4 million in loans went to restaurants and nearly $3 million to doctors, dentists, chiropractors or veterinarians.

In July 2002, according to the SBA records, Dave Chaffin’s Players Sports Bar & Grill received a $1.72 million loan so that Chaffin could move into a new building – something he’d planned well before the terrorist attacks.

Chaffin said he initially resisted help through the SBA because of the paperwork involved, but his lender insisted. The federal agency guaranteed up to 85 percent of loan amounts, leaving the lenders with far less risk while they earned interest.

“It’s just too tempting for the banks,” he said.

Chaffin said he isn’t enjoying a break because of the SBA, because he’s now paying 8.75 percent interest on his loan. He said he didn’t know at the time his loan was part of a Sept. 11 recovery program.

He also said that he, like other restaurant owners across Wichita, saw business drop dramatically after the terrorist attacks. He said his revenues dropped 70 percent in the months immediately following the attacks, because workers didn’t know whether they’d have jobs and wanted to save their money.

Nearly $3.7 million in loans did go to parts and equipment manufacturers, who were presumably affected by the slowdown in the aviation industry.

But Trendel said his business didn’t suffer any more than any other business because of the slow economy – and people didn’t seem to buy less of his products.