January 13, 1993

Moving his arms and right leg, Dennis Byrd, the partly paralyzed New York Jet, said yesterday he was relying on prayers, good physical condition and willpower to take what his doctors said was a surprisingly strong recovery to the point where he might walk again. Byrd and his wife, Angela, spoke publicly at a news conference for the first time since the devastating injury he suffered when he collided with a teammate while attempting a tackle in a football game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 29.

IF wine with food was a preoccupation in the 80's, beer with food -- and not just hot dogs or pizza -- is attracting attention now. The choices of what to drink with a fine dinner now include pale, amber and dark beers as well as red and white wines, as the interest grows in well-made, flavorful beers from small American regional breweries. Some lesser-known beers from Belgium, Germany and other countries are also popular.

Some of the largest American and Japanese companies have agreed to pay at least $10,000 each for a party to honor the next Commerce Secretary, Ronald H. Brown, at a pre-inaugural gala on Sunday. The sponsors of the Friends of Ron Brown party, an array of business interests that will probably have issues coming before the Commerce Department, include Anheuser-Busch, J. C. Penney, Pepsico, Textron and Sony Music Entertainment.

HIRING OF CASEWORKERS PROMISED The Dinkins administration, acknowledging that the city's child-abuse investigators are seriously overworked, said it would move quickly to hire 300 new caseworkers for the city's Child Welfare Administration, increasing the number of child-abuse investigators by 20 percent and reducing their caseloads by about one third. A1. NEW YORK CITY FLORISTS MOVING TO THE BRONX

Top aides to President-elect Bill Clinton, who is under intense pressure from the military to back off his commitment to lift the ban on homosexuals in the armed services, have been floating a plan to approach that goal indirectly, without a Presidential order. Under the proposal, Mr. Clinton would simply issue written instructions to his choice for Defense Secretary, Les Aspin, directing him to remove the ban and drop any current cases against suspected homosexuals in the military. Recruits would no longer be asked about their sexual orientation.