European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 13, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 3,1993 the stars and stripes b Page 3furniture buyers feel ripped off closed i by Kevin Robinson. Staff writer americans in Europe who invested thousands of dollars with stateside furniture corp. To buy furniture Are weighing their options As they await news from the company on the Fate of their accounts. Quot basically i have a feeling that they be ripped me off a said chief warrant officer 3 Mike Stevens a Soldier assigned to co a 3rd aviation regt in Wiesbaden Germany a a in a not saying the water is Over the dam but the possibility is  Stevens paid $7,800 Cash for furniture in August at stateside a office at Lindsey air station in Wiesbaden. Stevens and stateside a other customers in Europe recently Learned that the company has closed All its overseas locations As Well As its stateside Headquarters in la Jolla Calif stateside which sold Brand name american furniture operated nine offices in Germany four in England and two in Italy. Two of these offices a one in Kaiserslautern. Germany and the other at Raf Lakenheath England a firm s customers worried about Money also were showrooms. By the . Arh of judge advocate generations were authorized Throin new raft in  Ned rred alas office in waster freon d.c., . Tracts with mar agencies on in also were showrooms while overseas customers ordered furniture at the company a satellite offices and made payments. Their furniture then was stored in  a Greensboro n.c., warehouse. When the customer rotated to the states the furniture was included on official orders to be shipped by the military from North Carolina to the customer s next . Duty station. The company did not ship furniture overseas. Stevens said he plans to Lodge a complaint with the defense department inspector general a office in Wiesbaden. Inc advocate goner a office in a Streton d.c., . Army Europe and .\Vir forces in Europe. The brochure also stated that stateside has a contract with Safe procurement to provide customer services in officers and noncommissioned officers clubs. Army officials in eff pc said stateside had a morale welfare and recreation contract to operate As a concessionaire on army installations in Vicenza Italy and Heidelberg Germany. However that contract expired in late 1992. Officials would not elaborate on exactly when the contract expired. To. The army was not told of any plans attempts by the stars and stripes to by furniture company to renegotiate nt.,r of fire Nln from he furniture cont a of a Osc jts offices eur. Contact officials from the furniture company in the states and in Europe were unsuccessful. Attempts to find out the status of the company through the Bank listed on its advertising brochure san Diego Trust arid savings were unsuccessful. Bank officials would not confirm stateside was a client. A stateside brochure said inform rope officials said. The company did not despite its claims have a contract with a Central air Force procurement Agency in Europe Safe officials said. It did have offices on air Force bases in England a Lakenheath bunt Waters Alconbury and upper Scyford. Stateside also had outlets at Rhein main a and Lindsey Tion about the company was maintained air station in Germany. All those oper through contracts with mar agencies on individual  customers with stateside accounts fear the worst since the company s Only communication with them has been through a 28-Sccond, recorded Telephone message at its California Headquarters. The message says the company has closed its overseas offices is Quot reconciling its customer accounts and will update them Quot on the status of their orders. Bent Collin a retired air Force master sergeant said he received a Christmas card from his stateside furniture sales rep in Kaiserslautern that announced the office would close dec. 15. He suspected something was wrong when he visited the Kaiserslautern office dec. 12 and everything was Quot closed  Quot since we did no to hear from the Home office. We just Don t know. Its in limbo Quot Collin said of the $2,800 Worth of Quot dream furniture that he and his wife tech sgt. Lee Collin paid for. Quot we arc leery that we May lose our  group says Geneva apr the Leader of serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina on tuesday conditionally accepted a peace plan that yugoslav officials said signalled a possible breakthrough in the bloody 9-month-old War. There was no immediate confirmation from the mediators . Envoy Cyrus Vance and the european Community a lord David Owen a statement by the yugoslav delegation said the bosnian serbian Leader Radovan Karadzic agreed to a constitutional framework proposed by the mediators subject to approval by an Assembly of bosnian serbs. The reported move by Karadzic who had held out for a serbian state in Bosnia followed three Days of pressure by yugoslav president Dobrica Cosic and hard line serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. There was Quot Friendly persuasion a said Cosico a spokesman Dragoslav Rancic. Hours earlier Karadzic had rejected terms of the peace plan and the talks broke Down. Milosevic is considered key to the peace talks. He and Cosic the Federal Leader of a Yugoslavia that now includes Only Serbia and Montenegro earlier tuesday accepted the compromises As Quot reasonable a said Vance. Vance a former . Secretary of state had said he would report the then apparent deadlock to . Secretary general Boutros Boutros Ghali Quot making it very Clear. That the Only one who has said flatly no Quot was Karadzic. Karadzic a forces have taken Over about 70 percent of Bosnia since the beginning of the War. The fighting has claimed More than 17,000 lives and led to allegations of the forcible eviction of tens of thousands of muslims Vance and lord Owen have proposed a peace package that includes the division of Bosnia into 10 provinces with wide Powers a permanent cease fire and troop pullback. Any amendments to the constitutional plan would require the approval of Bosnia a Muslim Jed government and its croats both of whom have approved the proposed principles. Agreement on constitutional issues would allow talks to move to provincial boundaries which the mediators designed to avoid a crude ethnic division of Bosnia. These talks will be a very difficult a said the mediators spokesman Fred Eckhard. Before the third Day of the current round of peace talks Karadzic had said in an interview tuesday with the associated press that the bosnian serbs Quot cannot accept a take it or leave it principle. We have the wishes of our own state our parliament and our people to  a a �1 pm. Or a croatian Soldier Steps out of a Bunker during a Lull in shelling tuesday near Turbe a town in Central Bosnia. The croats Hope to defend uie town from a possible Advance by serbian soldiers who attack Dally. A Day earlier Karadzic dropped demands for Independence within Bosnia and the right to join serbian dominated Yugoslavia in a Quot greater  Eckhard had said monday that Karadzic was asked to Quot go Home and sleep on it one More time Quot and come in tuesday Quot in the Hope of being prepared to say a yes or no to their paper Quot Karadzic said in the interview Quot i believe we demonstrated sufficient flexibility and willingness to Compromise. But if the International Community keeps insisting on the liquidation of the serbs a then let the International Community carry it  he accused the International Community of Quot making unreasonable requests Quot and of having Quot ulterior motives when dealing with our  croatian president Franjo Tadjman also at the talks said monday the talks had entered Quot their final and critical  Bosnia a Muslim president Alija Izel Begovic the other key negotiator was due Back in Geneva on tuesday after a one Day trip to an islamic emergency sum Mit in Senegal. Milosevic who the West mainly blames for warfare in former Yugoslavia since mid-1990, is believed crucial to solving the crisis partly because bosnian serbs depend on supplies from Serbia Karadzic Many of whose supporters Are hard liners has been looking for a Deal that would avoid the appearance of a sellout. Meanwhile fierce shelling was reported tuesday in and around Sarajevo. No casualty figures were available. Combat continued monday along a strategic serbian held land corridor in Northern Bosnia which government forces have Cut several times in the past two months. The narrow strip connects serbian territorial holdings in Western Bosnia with Serbia. Bosnia a War has left More than i million homeless. Serbs have been blamed for a ethnic cleansing a ridding areas of other ethnic groups As a Way to control the territory