January 31, 1984

For many people, the urge to search for tax-saving strategies begins to stir only when the tax-filing season is actually upon them. Then, when they sit down with sharpened pencil and calculator and compute their income tax obligation, they belatedly discover a desperate need to scrounge for angles. The tax-cutting angles available at this late date are, of course, limited. After all, the tax return covers income and expenses for the year that ended Dec. 31, and any significant tax-saving measures should have been executed before then. But the tax law does provide time for a few transactions and a multitude of decisions that can save an individual hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in taxes.

When Karl Lerchenmueller Jr., a psychiatric patient at the Veterans Administration Hospital here, tried to take silverware from the hospital cafeteria back to his ward, the staff called the state police to arrest him for theft. And though his psychiatrists at the hospital knew he tended to become suicidal when he drank, he drank at a party on his ward on another occasion and later that night tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists. His psychiatrists knew, too, that he had had a terrible fear of being locked up ever since his Vietnam combat days. They knew, as one therapist put it, that he was a ''very messed-up man.'' Yet with all that was known about him, he was given an unsupervised day pass Dec. 2 to appear in court on the silverware-theft charges. And he drank. And he argued with the police officers who arrested him near the hospital for being disorderly. And five hours after being jailed, he hanged himself.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1984 Companies Charles R. Pierce resigned as Lilco's chairman and chief executive. No reason was given. Mr. Pierce's management of Lilco's Shoreham nuclear plant has been criticized, inside and outside the company, as excessively rigid, and opponents of the plant said his departure could speed a compromise on whether the $4 billion plant can be operated safely. (Page A1.) National Semiconductor faces indictment by a Federal grand jury in San Francisco on charges of fraudulent testing of electronic chips for the military, a Justice Department source said. (D1.)

Although stock prices dropped again yesterday and Federal budget deficits still loom large, Wall Street officials expressed relief that Ronald Reagan had decided to seek a second term. They seemed confident of his re-election and thus were particularly pleased with the prospect of no major shifts in economic policy. ''We have not had a President serve two full terms since Eisenhower, and I think the country needs continuity,'' said Donald B. Marron, chairman and chief executive of Paine Webber Inc. ''If we elect someone whose philosophy is totally different, without getting into who, the economy will be subject to another shock, and I don't think the economy can handle a shock.'' At Dean Witter Reynolds Inc., Robert M. Gardiner, chairman and chief executive, said: ''I think the President's program has been very constructive to the economy of this country, and he is essential to the continued implementation of his program. I think it would have been disaster if he had said anything else.''

Among the food on sale at the teeming central market in this provincial capital today were large bags of wheat, corn and rice marked as American aid and stamped ''Not to be sold or exchanged.'' At other market stalls, vendors were offering tins of cooking oil with similar markings. ''There seems to be a leak through which food sent to be distributed free is finding its way into the market,'' a local clergyman said today. He said food aid sent by the United States had been on sale at the San Vicente market for several months.