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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 26, 1992                   TAG: 9201260210
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

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ORIENTAL RUG STORE ORDERED TO HALT SALE

Chesterfield County police forced an Oriental rug store to stop a going-out-of-business sale because the firm could not prove it was really closing.

For several months, Edgeworth-Trent Oriental Rug Co. has been advertising a "once-in-a-lifetime" rug sale. The store claims it is liquidating its stock by reducing prices to avoid bankruptcy.

Sgt. Karl Leonard said state law requires the company to obtain a permit from the county and present an inventory of stock before it can advertise such a sale. The store's owner, Oliver Perry Edgeworth III, has done neither, Leonard said.

Edgeworth, 54, was charged Friday with two counts of staging an illegal sale and one count of false advertising. The offenses are misdemeanors.

Edgeworth's attorney said the business did not need a permit because the sale was authorized by a Richmond Circuit Court judge supervising the dissolution of the company.

- Associated Press

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