March 12, 1995

He was the lone wolf of tennis. And in a way he still is. In the years before the best tournaments were opened, in 1968, to the best pros, Richard (Pancho) Gonzalez was the best tennis player on what was known as the "pro tour," opposing Rod Laver, Lew Hoad or Ken Rosewall in Madison Square Garden occasionally but more often appearing in one-night stands in dimly lighted arenas and armories all over America.

WHEN he ran for Mayor of Glen Cove two years ago Thomas R. Suozzi railed against the municipal incinerator, calling it a "fiscal and environmental time bomb." Now that he is Mayor, he is doing all that he can to make sure that the incinerator does not reopen. The incinerator was closed in August 1991 by order of the State Department of Environmental Conservation because its emissions exceeded state regulations.

THE GOWNS SHIMMER. THE STRAUSS WALTZ begins. The figures sweep across the dance floor. The music suggests a world of heedless frivolity. But then the camera closes in. The faces of the dancers are swollen, gashed, suppurating, bloody. The thin smiles of the women dissolve into scars; the music dissolves into discord. "Everything spins in a circle," says the Croatian director Lordan Zafranovic, who narrates this troubling scene from "Decline of the Century," his epic 1993 documentary on Balkan bloodshed. "The sky, the earth, the sun and moon, people, and the waltz. So do sickness and humanity, interweaving."

OVER a lifetime of accomplishment, Henry Wittenberg became an Olympic wrestling champion, decorated police officer, college professor, bird-watcher and fitness expert. But he wouldn't give professional wrestling a tumble. "I was a wrestler," he said. "I wasn't an actor. To my knowledge, professional wrestling hasn't been legitimate since about 1910."

A NEW Rolls-Royce entered the world last week, trailing Wordsworthian clouds of superlatives: The Bentley Azure is the biggest, heaviest, most expensive convertible in the world. And, save for the new Ferrari F50 roadster threatening to upstage it in Palexpo Hall, the site of the Geneva Auto Show, the Azure is the most powerful open-top car in production, with 390 thoroughbred horses under the hood and more than 550 foot-pounds of torque.

THE public face of the Brooklyn Heights Association is a squarish, habitually unkemptroom on the second floor of a residence for the elderly on Pierrepont Street. This in a neighborhood famed for its meticulously preserved brownstones and historic heritage. Say what you will, the office is classic yech. Appearances are one thing. If preservationists, borough and city officials and the occasional member of Congress are to be heeded, the Brooklyn Heights Association is arguably the most powerful community group in the city, a nexus for action. It gets things done. Its fingerprints are all over Brooklyn Heights. Just try to put a new front door on your brownstone and the association will make sure it's historically correct. Take down that awning! Fix that stoop! And while it has suffered thumping defeats, it seems to emerge more tenacious and intent on winning the next fight.

WHEN he became the chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Party in 1991, taking the reigns of one of the country's most powerful Republican organizations, Howard C. DeMartini set high goals. Mr. DeMartini, a political veteran from Islip with a reputation as a shrewd strategist, vowed to drive two local Democratic Representatives from office, increase the Republican majority in the Suffolk delegation to the State Assembly, return a Republican to the county executive's office and improve party finances.

HE still has the planes, helicopters, codes, and enormous powers of life and death. His merest word can still move markets, if not mountains, and lately he has even begun to pick some fights. But in the wintry weeks since the Republicans took control of Congress, Bill Clinton has also been struggling to master a new national role: President as goalie, parrying the pucks that come skittling down Pennsylvania Avenue from Newt Gingrich.

AS the second anniversary approaches of a fire that destroyed a 68-apartment co-op here, the building is no closer to being restored than it was in August when construction came to a halt as the co-op ran out of money. In the meantime, the former residents of the building, known as Country Club Cooperative Apartments, at 68 East Hartsdale Avenue, remain scattered around the county, many paying rent for temporary housing while still making mortgage payments on their former homes.

VINNY, Tony, Billy and I have all been sticking close to home these last few Saturday nights, which is my problem. They do not live in my neighborhood, but their bar, the Pit, has a music schedule that is in conflict with my sleep schedule. "We got to survive," explained Vinny, after he bought me a beer one recent Friday evening. Like his partners, he refused to disclose his last name; I didn't press or investigate, because for now I want to resolve this in a neighborly way. In the spirit of getting in touch with my pain, I've been dropping in on the Pit, which is on East 15th Street, and has two distinct, even conflicting, personalities. Most of the time it is a neighborhood bar with a lively happy-hour crowd decompressing between jobs nearby and their homes, which are usually a subway or train ride away.

TOM PAINE A Political Life. By John Keane. Illustrated. 644 pp. Boston: Little, Brown & Company. $27.95.

The incredible maze and seedy ambiance that subway riders know as the Union Square subway station will be replaced by a spiffier, more organized system of terminals and tunnels as part of a complete rehabilitation set to begin this spring. A $40 million construction contract was signed last month for a 16-phase, four-year overhaul of the station at 14th Street, where three train lines -- the Canarsie (L) line, the Broadway (N and R) line and the Lexington (4, 5 and 6) line -- converge in New York City's third largest subway station, after Times Square and Grand Central.