Daily News from New York, New York • 13

Jill III! 40 hiVMHMWMIiMMavaHMMMWWmMaMaMMMKMMMWMMrJ T-X IS, jhiiQkitTiWMik-J Ai fDave's illSOUNDl Dis BITES Maybe Rolling Stone magazine should have waited a few more weeks before naming David Letterman "Man of the Year." If they were at Wednesday night's taping, they might have had to reconsider for the sake of his off-camera behavior, which in our opinion was dead-on accurate, if not a tiny bit rude. After reading his "Top 10 List," Dave folded it up and asked the '7 is- i Life's A Beach For NFL Players PARTY ON: A good way to figure out which teams will meet in the Super Bowl is to look for the players who are the least uptight in the postseason. What if we told you that San Francisco 49er Deion Sanders is tossing a huge bash for his pals at the South Beach nightclub Amnesia Friday night? That's the night after Miami Dolphin Dan Marino throws his own at the same club. SORRY, CHARLIE: Since Charles Oakley's bad toe has sidelined him for several more weeks, Charles Smith has been woman who walked it out to him a long-legged gal dressed in a short skirt with a postal carrier shirt and mailbag to come back out because he had something he wanted to mail. When the woman came onto the stage, Dave handed her the list and said, "Mail that off to Conan O'Brien or Jon Stewart.

Maybe they could practice on it" The audience responded with an "oooooh" before Dave said, "Now you're 'ooooohing' Tupac Shakur Secure Shakur and you don't even know what you're 'ooooohing' about" asked to step up big. That's why he didnt even dare ask Coach Pat Riley if he could blow out of town Saturday night to take part in his pal Martin Lawrence's wedding. The comic wed Patricia Southall in Portsmouth, Va ROLE MODEL: It's not only female models who don't always behave properly in public. Suits at Beth Ann Models should know The comment was cut from the show when it aired. Abe's Nabe Is everyone aware that their vote for George Pataki essentially meant another four years of Abe Hirscbfeld? It's safe to say Pataki's victory Tupac Shakur, who not too long ago served as target practice, has a new home.

The rapper was first being held at Bellevue's prison ward, but now he has been moved to the tougher Rikers Island. Shakur is currently being held at the North Infirmary Command, which used to be called Rikers Island Hospital. And even though he may not be on the mind of a lot of people now that he's stretching, he was on the mind of director John Singleton. Some time ago, there was talk that Tupac was up for the lead in Singleton's flick "Higher Learning," which opens this week. At the time, Singleton never really made an official comment about whether Shakur was a serious contender for the part that eventually went to Omar Epps.

However, in an interview airing on Hot-97 Thursday, he tells Ed Lover, Dr. Dre and Lisa G. that Shakur was only a possible choice. "He had a lot of things he had to take care of," Singleton said. "They were conflicting with the scheduling of the movie, and I didnt know if he was going to be up to working out and becoming a track runner 'cause, ya know a lot of blunts.

Ya know, you got to be able to have a good cardiovascular system." Plus, balancing an acting career and criminal career is never easy. means Abe will have a sympathetic ear in Albany for his well-publicized that their male model-of-the-moment, Tyson, has been making the party scene some nights slugging champagne from the bottle and asking paparazzi, "You want a shot of MODEL SPLIT: Sources say Sports Illustrated model, Roshumba and her modelhusband, Gary Dourndan, have called it quits. That's why you shouldn't think evil thoughts each of the last two times you've seen her looking cozy with Wesley Snipes. plan of a privately financed Yankee Stadium Neighborhood Renovation project The recent designation of that part of the South Bronx as part of the federal Empowerment Zone also means that a $2 billion pool of federal facility bonds can be tapped to help finance much of Abe's scheme. The proposal won some praise, but not a firm commitment from former Gov.

Mario Cuomo. But Stopping The Insanity since Pataki's first postelection appearance was at Abe's 75th- birthday party last month, it is believed he will give the developer a hearing. The plan tops Yankee Stadium with a clear dome. It includes a 350- room full-service hotel in left-center- field that would double as boxes The State Department of Mental Health's failure to keep its mentally ill behind closed doors and off the streets is starting to cost more than lives it could end up costing the cash-strapped state big bucks. Attorney Brian O'Dwyer told us he's about to file a $6 million malpractice suit against the department for the family of Nelson Valeric Valerio was being held at Brooklyn's Downstate Medical Center a couple of months ago when, one night, he went into a violent frenzy and had to be strapped down in what O'Dwyer said medical experts termed a "freak-out" When Valerio awoke the next morning, the straps were taken off, which O'Dwyer claims permitted Valerio to jump out of bed, walk out the door and promptly hurl himself onto the tracks at Manhattan's 14th St station.

The oncoming train killed him. "It wasn't even like he had to tie a couple sheets together or overpower a guard to get out of there," O'Dwyer told us. Valerio's case is unfolding as the department is coming under fire for making Reuben Harris this city's latest famous escaped mental patient. Harris, who ankled from the Manhattan Psychiatric Center on Christmas Eve, has been accused of shoving 63-year-old Soon Sin in front of the train Wednesday. Because of the current litigation, a lawyer for the department declined to comment during games, the creation of three new garages, loads of retail space and rerouting of the elevated No.

4 train. If Abe could only get the Yankees pitching staff to keep its ERA under 4.00, all this other junk wouldn't be necessary..