December 13, 1995

Their town's most famous son was celebrating in Los Angeles, but that didn't stop fans in Hoboken from wishing Frank Sinatra a happy 80th birthday yesterday. Mayor Anthony Russo cut the cake at a noon party held by Sparky Spaccavento, owner of Piccolo's Clam Bar. "Mr. Sinatra," the Mayor toasted the absent singer, "your experience and your success actually mirror the experience and success of the city and its people. You came from humble beginnings, you had a dream, and you realized that dream." TERRY PRISTIN

The current attraction at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx is six toy trains that chug circuitously among vegetation and hand-carved evocations of the Brooklyn Bridge and Grand Central Terminal. At Halloween, 45 dancers in skeleton costumes tapped along a haunted walk. Periodically, there are wine tastings, not to mention the new line of souvenirs, from floral calendars to stationary, with garden tools and seeds to be out shortly. A catering facility capable of handling large weddings is in the works.

IT is one of those cold, rainy after noons a hot tea, mystery-novel-by-the-fireplace kind of day. So why does it feel like the Fourth of July in Barbara Smith's kitchen?

Mark J. Finkelstein, president of the New Jersey School Boards Association, testified yesterday that some students would lose vital services under the State Department of Education's proposal to cut special-education aid to districts that classify more than 10 percent of their students as having special needs. But Deputy Education Commissioner Richard A. DiPatri told the joint Senate and Assembly Education Committee hearing that some students are placed in costly special education programs for the wrong reasons.

Hundreds of thousands of French demonstrators filled the streets of cities around the country today, while union leaders, sensing that they have caught the wind of revolt, hardened their demands. The demonstrators demanded not only a total abandonment of Prime Minister Alain Juppe's comprehensive welfare reform plan but also his resignation, a day after he backed down on several aspects of the austerity plan.