May 13, 1999

The first police officer said to have come forward with information about the Abner Louima case provided a vivid account yesterday of the scene at a Brooklyn station house, testifying that one of the officers on trial emerged, agitated and brandishing a stick, from a restroom area where prosecutors say Mr. Louima was brutalized. Appearing as one of the prosecution's most important witnesses, Detective Eric Turetzky said Mr. Louima's pants were ''down below his knees'' as Officer Justin A. Volpe, his uniform in disarray and holding a stick nearly three feet long, escorted Mr. Louima from the restroom area of the 70th Precinct station house in Flatbush, where Detective Turetzky was an officer at the time.

Day before Mayor Giuliani administration was to auction off New York City-owned lots that had been transformed into community gardens, performer Bette Midler had her private conservation organization, New York Restoration Project, agree to buy dozens of less desirable parcels, providing final financing to preserve all 112 gardens that were set for sale; $1.2 million purchase of 51 lots clears way for Trust for Public Land to buy rest of 112 parcels for $3 million; photo (M)

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and its artistic director James Levine will being three-week tour of 10 European cities, which will feature, among others, soloist Deborah Voigt singing 'Four Last Songs' of Richard Strauss; photo; Eugene O'Neill will be subject of two-day conference of writers, critics and scholars at Baruch College to coincide with Broadway run of The Iceman Cometh; some 60 works by artists from 50 Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as US and Canada, will be displayed through August 19 at Organization of American States' Art Museum of the Americas and World Bank in Washington; includes 'WAIS Station Tower' by Korean-born American artist Nam June Paik; 52d Cannes International Film Festival begins on French Riviera, with 22 films vying for Golden Palm, to be awarded by jury led by director David Cronenberg (M)

Gov George E Pataki and legislative leaders promise unexpectedly to eliminate 33-year-old income tax for many suburban residents who hold jobs in New York City, disregarding Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani's contention that those workers should help shoulder cost of police and other city services; repeal of tax would deprive city of at least $210 million annually, and represents striking attempt by lawmakers to appeal to suburban voters, crucial constituency in balance of power in Legislature; Giuliani spokesman says that he will file suit to retain tax; nearly 800,000 people pay tax, which is .45 percent of taxable earnings for most of those covered, or $180 annually on $40,000 in net income (M)

Saul Steinberg, metaphysically minded artist and cartoonist and brooding doodler whose drawings appeared in New Yorker for more than half century, elevating comic illustration to fine art, dies at age 84; photos (M)