NEWS LITE : HESTON READS AT SKIRBALL CENTER.

Charlton Heston read poetry, Shakespeare and even recited a biblical passage about Moses during an appearance at a Los Angeles Jewish center in honor of a late friend, while anti-gun activists who said he shouldn't be there stayed away.

Heston's appearance Thursday night at the Skirball Cultural Center was lambasted earlier in the week by Women Against Gun Violence.

The group said it was inappropriate for the actor, who is president of the National Rifle Association, to do the reading because of a shooting at a San Fernando Valley Jewish community Center in August that left several wounded. The shooter, who was also accused of killing a postal worker after the attack, was charged with hate crimes in a 16-count federal indictment that by coincidence was returned Thursday.

The Skirball Cultural Center was one of three sites circled on a map that authorities found after the shooting, but its tight security apparently dissuaded the suspect.

At the private reading, Rabbi Uri Herscher introduced Heston to the near-capacity crowd of some 200 people, but did not mention the actor's affiliation with the NRA or the criticism.

Herscher said the event was planned after Heston told him at a memorial service last year for a mutual friend, Dr. Jolly West - the founder and chairman of the University of California, Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute - that he would like to honor West's memory with an evening of readings.

The actor went on to give more than one hour of readings, including parts of Shakespeare's ``Macbeth,'' poems from Robert Frost and Alfred Lord Tennyson and personal anecdotes about his family and career.

Only one quip alluded to any ill-will toward his visit. After thanking his longtime makeup artist, who was in the audience, someone shouted: ``And we love you.'' That, the 75-year-old Heston replied, was ``not a common opinion.''

Priestley crashes Porsche; pal is hurt

Actor Jason Priestley was charged with suspicion of drunken driving early Friday after crashing his Porsche into a utility pole and a parked car on a Hollywood street, injuring his passenger, police said.

Priestley, 30, former star of the hit TV series ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' was not injured in the 12:30 a.m. incident, but 27-year-old Chad Cook, who was riding with the actor, broke an arm, a Los Angeles police spokesman said. Cook was treated at a local hospital and released, the spokesman said.

Priestley was arrested ``after officers observed objective symptoms of alcohol intoxication,'' police said. He was released after posting $50,000 bail.

Wonder may volunteer for experimental eye implant

Blind singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder says he has met with a specialist and is considering experimental ``eye chip'' surgery that might allow him to see even if it ``could be dangerous to me.''

Wonder disclosed his plans for the first time publicly at a recent Detroit memorial for the sister of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. Gwendolyn Gordy Fuqua died of cancer Nov. 8 at her San Diego home at age 71.

``I've always said that if ever there's a possibility of me seeing, then by whatever means that would take, obviously under the blessings of God, then I would take that challenge,'' Wonder said at the memorial, where mourners applauded him.

``If, in fact, it could help others someday to see, I would do that.''

Wonder, who has been blind since birth, spoke with Dr. Mark S. Humayan about an intraocular retinal prosthesis, which involves placing a chip on the retina and stimulating cells that haven't completely deteriorated, said Karen Infeld, a spokeswoman of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

An offer was made to evaluate the 49-year-old singer to determine if he would be a candidate for a research trial, although Humayan said the surgery was unlikely to help him, she said Friday. She did not say when he saw the doctor.

A CNN report Friday on Wonder's hopes to restore his sight was heard by President Clinton.

``We obviously all hope it will work,'' Clinton told reporters at the White House.

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA; American rows across Atlantic

Having braved hurricanes and bouts of despair, a wobbly-kneed but triumphant Kentucky lawyer paddled to a French Caribbean island Friday and became the first American - and the first woman - to row across the Atlantic alone.

Friends swam out into the sea to welcome 36-year-old Tori Murden as she docked her boat, the American Pearl, at the Fort-du-Bas, Guadeloupe, marina to complete her 3,000-mile odyssey.

``Next time, the Concorde,'' Murden quipped, some 81 days, seven hours and 31 minutes after leaving the Canary Islands near the coast of Africa. She looked like she just climbed off a yacht: Her face glowed with a tan and a wide grin.

``This land does wobble,'' she said amid hugs and cheers from dozens of admirers.

Murden's quest nearly was scuttled by Hurricane Lenny, a late-season storm wielding dangerous winds of over 150 mph as it bore down on the northeast Caribbean last month.

``The hardest part was trying to decide whether or not to stay when it looked like the hurricane was going to cross my bow,'' she said.

Lenny's center passed within five miles of Murden, whipping up 20-foot waves that upended her 23-foot boat and hurled her into the sea.

Using her only connection to the world - a satellite telephone - Murden said she warned friends that ``if the worst hasn't passed, I'm out of here.''

More dispiriting still was the fact that Lenny was driving her backward. She lost 10 miles in one day and was forced to drop a floating anchor to stall her backward progress.

``I dare not describe my mood. I am well beyond screaming at the wind,'' she said at one point in a message posted on the Internet from a small computer she connected to the satellite phone.

But whale and dolphin sightings, calm mornings and signs of land - birds and bugs - all served to inspire the rower.

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports.

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

Photo: (1) YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA

Tori Murden aboard her 23-foot boat, American Pearl.

(2) HESTON

(3) PRIESTLY

(4) WONDER