June 24, 2002

Dinner party is held for families of 9/11 victims from Middletown, NJ; dinner, held in Sea Bright, is opportunity for 34 households that suffered loss of life on Sept 11 to thank neighbors and strangers who had showered them with material and emotional support over past nine months; photo (M)

Specialist computer makers are thriving while sales lag at big companies; among niche companies are Alienware Corp, whose souped-up computers are favored by gamers, Ace Computers, which provides level of technical support unheard-of at bigger manufacturers, and Falcon Northwest Computers Systems, which custom-builds all its computers; their strength shows that industry, with 15,000 manufactuers, is not consolidating inevitably into handful of companies; photos; graph (M)

Stephen LaValle, one of first men sentenced to be executed under New York's 1995 death penalty law, is in bitter battle with his lawyers as they prepare appeal to state's highest court; court documents show he has deluged court with complaints about lawyers' efforts to win life sentence rather than freedom; Court of Appeals has authorized him to file his own brief, which will argue against brief filed by lawyers; he says he would rather be executed than spend life in jail; he was convicted of 1997 rape and murder on strength of DNA and other evidence after confessing to police; battle is first in New York between death row inmate and lawyers since 1995 law passed, but death penalty lawyers say such struggles are frequent across country as inmates try to exert control (M)

Imperial chief executive, hailed not long ago as savior of entire companies and driving force behind turnaround of US economy, is suddenly under siege across business landscape; executives face most significant challenge in decade or more, with recent indictments of two prominent executives, accounting problems and stock market stuck near lowest level in three years; have begun delicate efforts intended to answer critics and still defeat efforts at systematic change; have become more solicitous of investors, more open about financial dealings and more responsive to detailed questions from board members, while proclaiming their companies to be fully healthy and recent disclosures about problems elsewhere to be exceptions; few are willing to sacrifice even sliver of many privileges and huge pay packages awarded in recent years; photos; graphs (M)

New York Mets defeat Kansas City Royals, 5-4; photos (M)