February 16, 1995

A bicycle and pedestrian trail along the west bank of the Saddle River has long been one of the jewels of the Bergen County parks system, following the river as it winds its way from Ridgewood to Rochelle Park. But there has been a gap nearly a mile long in the 6.5-mile trail where Route 4 and Paramus Road cross overhead, forcing nature lovers to detour onto busy roads.

In the months after 7-year-old Stephanie Monn of Westville was found suffocated and dumped in a creek near her home, it might have seemed to those following the case that little was being done. Not so, the authorities said yesterday after a former neighbor, Timothy Daniel MacFarland, 23, was charged in the killing. "Investigations oftentimes take a long time and a lot of hard work," said the Gloucester County Prosecutor, Harris Y. Cotton. "Not a day went by when someone wasn't doing something."

NEW YORK TO RESTORE DEATH PENALTY Governor Pataki and state legislative leaders announced agreement on legislation that would restore the death penalty, making New York the 38th state to revive capital punishment. A1. The agreement ultimately may be judged by its scope, its protections against inequity and inadequate defense, and its cost. B4.

He was the man about town, the Police Commissioner who loved to be seen clinking glasses with celebrities at Elaine's, who planned a police parade down Broadway on his birthday and who made a show of chewing out his senior staff in front of a reporter. That was the old Commissioner William J. Bratton, who with his courtside seats at basketball games and his appearances at other "in" evening events displayed the sort of panache more common in the swaggering world of Damon Runyon.

The Economy A man suspected in a long spree of computer theft was arrested by F.B.I. agents. The capture of Kevin D. Mitnick, a 31-year-old computer expert, came after a search of more than two years. He is suspected in the theft of thousands of data files and at least 20,000 credit card numbers from computer systems nationwide. "He was clearly the most wanted computer hacker in the world," said Kent Walker, a United States assistant attorney. [ Page A1. ] Tsutomu Shimomura was the cybersleuth who assisted the F.B.I. in its inquiry that led to the arrest of Kevin Mitnick. [ D17. ]