April 22, 1990

LEAD: The Town of Somers was incorporated in 1788, spreads over 30 square miles of northern Westchester County and is generally regarded by its residents as a model of rural living. But many also feel their town grew up without a central focus for community life. In recent years there have been housing developments aplenty, a small cluster of shops near Route 202, the main throughfare, and another small shopping complex that opened last winter.

LEAD: A wave of underclassmen - a record high of 38 - is helping to make the National Football League's 55th annual draft of college players a bonanza of raw pickings so tempting that nearly everyone wants a quicker draw. As the draft begins today at noon in the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan, the stage is primed for an afternoon of jockeying among the league's 28 teams.

LEAD: Thirty Six Red and Silver Ending won the last two major Triple Crown preps of the spring yesterday, but neither colt did enough to displace Mister Frisky and Summer Squall as the strong co-favorites for the Kentucky Derby on May 5.

LEAD: IT has not been done in Suffolk County in more than a dozen years, but on or about June 4 District Attorney James Catterson will personally prosecute a case, something that his Nassau counterpart, Denis Dillon, has never done in his 15 years in office.

LEAD: AT the age of 15, Arthur J. Stickel checked into the hospital for routine surgery to correct a nasal blockage. A studious boy who played classical piano and hoped to become a doctor, he filled his suitcase with textbooks, a thesaurus and a dictionary. It would be years before he would read a book again.