May 26, 1991

Alfred Menziuso, an architect, and his Brooklyn neighbor Frank Guido, whose family owns the Guido Funeral Home, had long admired the handsome brownstone at 25 First Place not far from their homes in the Carroll Gardens section of the borough. Built as a private home in the 1890's, the house most recently served as a convent attached to the Roman Catholic Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Church. When it was put up for sale last June, Mr. Menziuso and Mr. Guido bought it, and they have turned it into eight condominium apartments, which are now for sale.

IN approach as well as content, the Supreme Court's sweeping decision last week upholding Federal restrictions on abortion counseling brought the Court itself into sharp focus. Nearly five years into the tenure of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and 10 months after the retirement of Justice William J. Brennan Jr., the Supreme Court is no longer in transition. It has become the Court it will most likely be for the next generation. A series of rulings this term has made clear that this is a Court with an activist's appetite and reach. Increasingly reflecting the style and aims of the Chief Justice, the Court is not interested in taking tentative or incremental steps, in deferring hard questions, in playing the passive role usually identified with the label "judicial restraint."

AUBREY C. LEWIS would seem an ideal candidate to join the Baltusrol Golf Club, which recently disclosed its decision to accept women and minority members. One of the first black agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Lewis is currently the highest-ranking black executive at the Woolworth Corporation. Yet despite having the same kind of professional and financial stature as Baltusrol members, he said that even if asked, he would not be interested in joining the club.

Separatist guerrillas today captured the last port controlled by the Ethiopian Government, enabling the rebels to choke off fuel and other vital supplies to the crumbling Government and very likely assuring its downfall within days. Diplomats said the taking of the Red Sea port of Assab, which was confirmed by Government officials, means the guerrillas will almost certainly be able to dictate terms for a settlement at peace talks in London arranged by the United States, which are now scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

WHEN Rajiv Gandhi reached out to meet the people on a tropical night last week in southern India, and was instead killed by a bomb, he was nearing the end of an intense political campaign built on the theme of stability. Only the Congress Party, he had said over and over again, could bring the country unity and peace. Kashmir in revolt, Punjab in distress, an economy in peril, violence in the streets -- all these, Mr. Gandhi told election rallies from the Himalayas to the Kerala shore, had been caused by non-Congress Governments in just the 18 months since the voters turned him out of the Prime Minister's office.