November 29, 1984

A parade of people - advocates for an alcoholic treatment center short of money in Schenectady, a hospital threatened with service cuts in Corinth, a toxic waste site in Guilderland - took their problems to Governor Cuomo today. He used the opportunity, as he began a series of public discussions on what people want in next year's state budget, to lecture them on how much harder it was to fashion the state budget than the Federal Government's. ''Suppose you could use your checkbook whenever you wanted something,'' the Governor said, ''and you never had to balance it. That's the Federal Government.''

Philip Morris Inc. said yesterday that it would write down the value of its Miller Brewing Company's new $450 million brewery in Trenton, Ohio. The move would reduce fourth- quarter earnings by an estimated $140 million. The decision reflects the stagnant nature of the American beer industry and the particular difficulties that have befallen Miller, the country's second-biggest brewer, after the Anheuser-Busch Companies.

An obituary of the actress Sudie Bond on Nov. 12 misidentified the author of ''The Sandbox,'' a play in which she appeared. The playwright was Edward Albee.

Infant bellies swollen by want and pale deserts haunted by thin- cloaked people and dead cattle: In Africa, the images seem to recur, cyclical emblems of dispair that bring stirrings of guilt to outsiders and then are forgotten until the next tragedy in a distant world. When the images flicker and fade, the tragedies do not stop. Even aid from well-intentioned relief agencies and the concern of the West, some specialists say, are deepening the problem and leading to criticism by African Governments that aid projects are ill-conceived and sometimes reflect the commercial interests of donor nations. Western consciences dictate that people should not be allowed to starve; but the specialists contend that by saving them, without finding a key to greater food production on fragile lands, too much pressure is placed on that land and it dies while dependence on outsiders increases. 300,000 Said to Die Since the early 1970's, up to 300,000 people are said to have starved to death in Africa because of drought that first spurred international attention in the sub-Saharan region of Africa.

Senator Bob Dole of Kansas was elected majority leader of the Senate today, defeating Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska by three votes in the final round of a tense and hard-fought contest. The election of Mr. Dole by the majority Republican members set off a chain reaction in the Senate and produced a new leadership team with moderates in several key posts. Senator Richard G. Lugar, an Indianan with appeal among both moderates and conservatives, who had come in third in the leadership race, will become chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, succeeding Charles H. Percy of Illinois, who was defeated for re-election earlier this month. Helms Stays With Agriculture Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, a leader among Senate conservatives, opened the way for Mr. Lugar when he announced he would definitely not assume the leadership of the Foreign Relations panel.