Daily News from New York, New York • 15

1 HIRSAU: 3 --J f8 4 hS tili 4 rV? Orchard Beach in the Bronx and Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn got good marks among the city's six beaches in a new "study, but Coney Island Beach, which attracts a million persons on a peak day, was rated a near-disaster. Orchard and Manhattan are the cleanest, safest and best-equipped, according to a study released yesterday by Controller Harrison Goldin. Coney Island and South Beach on Staten Island are the worst, the study said, because of "shabby and extremely hazardous badly maintained or no toilet facilities" and other problems. Wolfe's Pond Beach in Staten Island was rated "good" and Rockaway Beach in Queens was rated "fair" by the study. THE CONTROLLER'S office inspected the beaches over the last two.

months to determine what steps should be taken to reduce the number of claims from beach-related accidents. The study recommended that the city spend $18 million to repair the Study released gave high marks to Orchard Beach (top photo) and Manhattan Beach (left). At one time, Robert Moses wanted to link Manhattan Beach with Coney Island, now rated one of the worst. "excellent" rating for its "very clean" beachfront, well-equipped and well-staffed lifeguard stations, and generally clean rest rooms. South Beach, which gets about 1,200 persons on a peak day, received the other "poor" rating.

It has a "small sign posted near the parking lot" which warns: "Polluted Waters, not recommended for bathing." "dilapidated and quite dangerous" boardwalks at Coney Island, Rockaway and South Beach. Coney Island got a "poor" rating because of holes and nails in the boardwalk, broken water fountains, an "extremely dirty" men's rest room and a "vacant lot strewn with garbage" adjoining the boardwalk. Manhattan Beach, which attracts an estimated 80,000 persons a day on peak summer weekends, received an "excellent" rating. It was described as "a very attractive and safe The beach itself was in reasonably clean condition, especially considering the huge crowd." THE REPORT ALSO gave Orchard Beach, located in the northeast corner of the Bronx near City Island, an By BELLA ENGLISH Lemuel Smith spends his days in a cell 10 feet from the electric chair in which he has been sentenced to die. The chair is out of sight around the corner from the cell but it is 1 v.

I Of I jr I I never out 01 Smith's mind. "Of course they'll execute me," Smith said. "I visualize being in that chair, I 1 r. visualize being executed. I know I'm going to die someday, but I don't want to rush it." When Smith Big Flats, N.Y.

(AP-As 5,000 spectators watched, a 29-year-old skydiver plunged more than half a mile to his death when both his main and reserve parachutes failed to open at an air show yesterday, state police said. Jeffry D. Barnes of Binghamton was part of a four-man skydiving team, said State Police Investigator J.W. Holly. The skydivers were performing at Elmira-Corning Regional Airport.

Thousands of spectators watched as the members of the Twin Tier Sky Sports Inc. team jumped from 2,800 feet shortly after 1:30 p.m. "We just saw him free fall, there was no indication that the chute would open," said Richard E. Kuster, who saw Barnes hit the ground about 175 yards away. "It was the most horrible thing I saw in my life." Investigators said Barnes' main parachute opened only partially.

He then went to his reserve parachute, which also failed. "He hit the ground and bounced up," said Kuster's wife, Linda. "It was very bad." Barnes had 13 years of skydiving experience, and had rigged his own main chute, police said. The other three skydivers landed safely and the show continued. Smith, who turned 42 a week ago, has spent 22 other birthdays in prison.

He was serving a triple life sentence for two other murders and an abduction when he was charged, with the May 16, 1981, murder of Donna Payant, a guard at Green Haven. He was convicted in June and sentenced to death. SMITH, WHO FIRST went to prison at 17 for attempted robbery with a deadly weapon, said he grew up in a close-knit family. "My family wasn't rich, but I wasn't a deprived kid," he said. "I can't use that as a crutch.

I had everything a kid would need or want" Smith said he had never been able to develop close relationships with people outside his family. "I got a lot of things I regret; some of the crimes I did commit," he said. "I regret not having a family of my own. I regret not being the type of person who can have relationships with other people those kind of things take practice. The psychia-trists have classified me as antisocial and I'm on medication." Smith spends his time watching television the idiot box but at least it's the sound of a voice or a noise in the and studying for his appeal.

A guard is on duty outside his cell around the clock. When the weather permits, he walks alone around the prison courtyard for one hour, under the gaze of a guard. LAST WEEK, SMITH was back in court this time, he brought suit against the State of New York for what he called a denial of his pri- wants to brush his teeth, a guard Donna Payant Lemuel Smith on death row. vileges. Smith objected to not being allowed contact visits with his family.

"My 78-year-old mother has been to see me three weeks in a row from Schenectady," Smith said in a recent telephone interview. "She can't even hold my hand. I can't even hug her. I've been in the prison system for over 20 years, and I've never been through anything like this." Smith has said he is innocent in the Payant killing and has stuck to his story that corrections officers were involved in setting Payant up for murder because she was about to testify against officers about corruption. must pass his toothbrush through the bars.

When he wants to comb his hair, the comb must also be passed. Meals travel the same route. A GUARD LIGHTS Smith's cigarets through the bars and switches the channels on a television set just outside his cell. Smith's legal material, which he is studying for an appeal, is kept in the cell next to his and must be handed to him on request. He is watched by television cameras and his every move is recorded in a log.

The only other cell on death row in Green Haven Correctional Facility is unoccupied. The last execution in the state at Sing Sing took place in 1963. 13 die in S. Africa bus crash Cape Town, South Africa (AP A bus overturned Saturday near the town of Atlantis, killing 13 people and Injur ing 51, the South African Press Association said..