European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 6, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a a the stars and stripes monday August 6,1990audits detail of abuse of mar funds Washington apr the air Force has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Gold plated chandeliers Golf course projects and other luxuries to boost morale internal Pentagon documents showed sunday. In 1985, the air Force decided to refurbish its officers club at Raf Milden Hall in England at a Cost of $75,000. The services Champagne taste however hardly matched the appropriated amount. Gold plated chandeliers valued at $145,000 were installed solid Oak panelling lined the Walls and fireplaces with Marble fixtures completed the decor. The final tally was More than $2 million with . Taxpayers picking up the Tab. The internal air Force audits conducted in april and May of this year reveal widespread waste and abuse in the air Force management of funds for the morale welfare and recreation activity. Golf course projects at Myrtle Beach fab s.c., Cost nearly $600,000, while parties for a departing officer at Ramstein a in West Germany totalled $26,000. In a letter to defense Secretary Dick Cheney rep. Barbara Boxer d-calif., called for leadership from the highest Levels of the Pentagon to crack Down on these abuses. The documents reveal a a mind set among some senior air Force officials that the bases they command Are their own personal fiefdoms with appropriated funds to be used at their discretion regardless of Law and regulation a Boxer said in the letter. According to the documents strict restrictions on excessive spending on Reno. Fatiori projects have been either ignored or circumvented. Projects valued at More than $500,000 must be reported to Congress in some instances however major projects were split into smaller projects to avoid seeking congressional approval. Even the air Force auditors expressed dismay at the renovation projects. In the documents air Force management at the base in England argued that the chandeliers  be Standard Issue. A flow Quality chandeliers could not act As the main architectural highlight of a room As the existing chandeliers do. The Crystal used would not have the capability to break apart the available Light in a room into its primary colors prism effect Quot the air Force said. In response the auditors said a spending an additional $15,900 in appropriated funds to Purchase chandeliers that have the Correct a prism effects is not  other instances of abuse include relocation of a Skacel shooting club at tinker fab in Oklahoma. The projects estimated Cost was $722,000, and it was included in the Cost of a construction project for basins of the b-2 stealth bomber. But when it was discovered that the project was $1 million Over budget the air Force proposed eliminating the work stations at the facility rather than the skeet club. _ a i find it appalling that the weaknesses in the management and oversight of morale welfare and recreation operations have been repeatedly documented by defense department auditors whistle blowers and Congress that hundreds of millions of dollars Are being illegally spent on parties Golf courses and officers clubs yet internal recommendations to remedy the problems have been ignored a Boxer said in the Tetter. Smart cookie zen Baker is activism succeeds Yonkers . Apr food critics often liken Bernard Glassman s gourmet cakes and tortes to Paradise. Bui this Brooklyn bom zen Buddhist Abbot is concerned with earthly missions like providing Job skills and housing for the disadvantaged and trying to save South american rain forests. Browsers at Bloomingdale a a weekenders in Long islands fashionable Hampton and diners at Sardis regularly savor Glassman a Greys on Bak cry goodies which arc sold in 300 gourmet shops and restaurants nationwide. Greys on also provides the Vermont based Ben amp Jerry  Cream company with the brownies that go into its chocolate fudge Brownie ice Cream. And soon the two socially conscious companies will Market a new chocolate Chip cookie which they Hope will not Only taste Good but help save Trees in the brazilian rain Forest and provide work for the homeless in this new York suburb. Greys on and its sibling companies have taught Job skills to some 200 homeless and those at risk of losing their Homes since 1982. Come fall the company plans to use its profits and Federal and slate Aid to renovate buildings near the bakery which will be owned and managed by the formerly homeless tenants. Classman describes the entrepreneurial Effort As a Mandala. The term Nian Dala symbolizes a wholeness for which one strives in buddhism a religion and a philosophic system leaching that right thinking and self denial will enable the a outside Greyston bakery which was started by a zen Buddhist Abbot with the idea of providing jobs and housing for the disadvantaged. Soul to reach nirvana a a divine state of release from misdirected desire. The zen  seeks to attain an intuitive illumination of mind and spirit through meditation. All of the profits from the bakery and two other zen operated businesses a one that trains minority construction workers and another that trains poorly paid office workers for jobs in the bakery and construction company a goes into the Greyston family inn a zen run social services Agency. Glassman who became a zen Monk in 1970 and quit his aerospace Engineer Job a few years later oversees Agency operations from the bakery a former lasagna factory in a rundown Section of downtown Yonkers. Glassman started the bakery with $40,000 from the Yonkers private Industry Council. When it started in 1983, the bakery had sales of $282,000. This year Glassman expects to bring in $ 1.8 million. Glassman said initial sales were made on the strength of the product not on the activist philosophy but that a changing. Quot Only in the last few years has the fact that we re involved in social action even been noticed Quot he said. Three years ago Glassman met Ben Cohen co founder of Ben amp Jerry sat a gathering of activist entrepreneurs. The two hit it off and the Brownie Deal was quickly sealed. Bakery workers who include 30 non zen people from the neighbourhood come from Al Salvador India Haiti and puerto Rico. Family vows to fight marines drug conviction Stone in i it wac Ain a .,.u�?z i. A a. _. A is one Lake wis. A it a a Marine who pleaded guilty to using Ltd on a Hawaii military base is serving live years in the Brig even though a urine test showed no Trace of drugs in his body. The parents of pfc. Charles Serauskas 21, of Stone Lake in Northwestern Wisconsin have already spent $20,01 0 on an Appeal. They say their son was still drunk and suffering from depression when he confessed to using and distributing Ltd. Or what he thought was 1 so at a Barracks party last get. I 3. Ourt records indicate that i drugs were found on Serauskas. And a urinalysis taken just hours after his arrest on the night of the parly turned up no sign of the drug. I he Sample has since been destroyed. Quot we Are going to Light them Quot said Serauskas father Leonard. "1 can t believe in this country so mean be convicted when there is no evidence against  a i heir son confessed he s guilty Quot countered a Apt Leonard Ryan a spokesman for the Marine corps air station at Kaneohe Bay. Hawaii where Serauskas was arrested. Quot in that ease there does no to have to been  military records show that inc Oiher marines who testified they received Ltd from Serauskas were tested for drugs just hours after the party and no evidence of drugs was found in their urine either. Serauskas made a second confession at a sentencing hearing but his family claims he was Given bad advice by his military lawyer who advised him to plead guilty in Hopes of getting a lenient sentence of no More than two years. Instead Serauskas was sentenced to seven years later reduced to five years in the Pearl Harbor guardhouse. An Appeal is pending before the military court of review in Washington. If it fails the Case will be taken through civilian courts the family said. Serauskas drank at least a ease of Beer and some whiskey at the party. With a confession of intent to use drugs physical evidence was unnecessary the military argued. A h u t an a it Ottimer Randy Caddo a spokesman Lor Marine corps Headquarters in Washington said a persons intent to commit a crime is considered to be evidence in both military and Givihan courts hut Quot the intent would weigh in with other evidence and other  the Serauskas family alleges that the military prosecution witnesses were intimidated. This Case Isnit a Legal technicality. This Case is a tack of evidence Quot said Robert Finlay a Hawaii lawyer hired by the family. He is the farthest thing from a dope dealer that Ever was Finlay said. A maybe he is guilty As hell but they sure could t prove  Finlay said he has found evidence that the five other marines were threatened by military officers to testify against Zerauskas or risk being sent to the Brig on various charges. Military prosecutors acknowledged that the five re 4ucsll0ilcd before a panel of seven officers. Court ice ords indicate they were urged to Tell the truth and i is on punishment was discussed. I he live were later Given honorable discharges.  Nuh tary judge who reviewed and later denied 11 rau5kus motion for retrial made no reference to the treats or the discharged soldiers. He ruled Serauskas s compete a and understood the implications of his guilty plea. 1