NEWS LITE : YOKO ONO SUES FORMER LENNON AIDE.

Yoko Ono continued a long feud with a former assistant to John Lennon, suing him Tuesday and claiming he stole priceless personal items after the ex-Beatle was killed.

In a federal lawsuit filed in New York, Ono contends that the former aide, Fred Seaman, agreed in 1983 to return boxes of Lennon's personal items but has held on to hundreds of photographs.

The lawsuit was prompted by Seaman's claim in a February letter to Capitol Records that a photograph of Lennon with his son Sean, overlooking a beach in Bermuda, was improperly included in a recently released compact disc boxed set.

Seaman said he shot the photograph and calls Capitol's use of it ``an egregious'' copyright infringement.

Capitol sued Seaman separately Tuesday, seeking a declaration that the photograph does not infringe on any copyright rights.

Telephone calls to Seaman and a lawyer for Ono were not returned.

Unsung designer fit for a princess

Sophie Rhys-Jones has chosen a little-known designer to make the dress for her wedding to Prince Edward.

The design by Samantha Shaw, who set up her own salon only four years ago, will remain secret until the June 19 ceremony at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, Shaw's publicist says.

Shaw, 30, never advertises and sells her work mainly at private fashion shows.

``It's a great choice,'' said Camilla Secil, social editor of Harpers and Queen magazine. ``Sam makes very feminine clothes, very pretty and often layered. She uses very rich fabrics, hand-painting and beads.

Houston says fighting like love

Whitney Houston says she's the aggressor in her marriage to Bobby Brown.

``Contrary to belief, I do the hitting, he doesn't. He has never put his hands on me. He is not a woman-beater,'' the singer and actress said in the May issue of Redbook. ``We are crazy for one another. I mean crazy in love, love, love, love, love. When we're fighting, it's like that's love for us. We're fighting for our love.''

Brown's arrest history includes drunken driving and battery against women other than his wife.

Brown was sentenced in 1998 to five days in jail and a year on probation for drunken driving. On Monday, a judge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., put him back on probation for showing up drunk to do his time.

Houston conceded that her singer husband is ``a party guy'' who ``likes to hang with his friends. He likes to dance with different people.'' But she said she knows he's loyal.''

Fan of bandleader Miller gets logbook

An American fan of bandleader Glenn Miller paid $35,000 Tuesday for a military logbook that holds a clue to Miller's mysterious disappearance aboard an airplane during World War II.

``I've never done anything like this in my life,'' said William Suitts, a 76-year-old businessman from Boulder, Colo., who bid for the book by telephone to Sotheby's auction house in London.

``From the time I was about 18 years old, I've always been a great, great fan of his,'' Suitts said, adding that he served in the Army Air Corps during the World War II.

Suitts was drawn to the logbook by a series of coincidences.

In addition to being a lifelong Glenn Miller fan, he discovered when he moved to Boulder 40 years ago that it was where Miller had gone to college - at the University of Colorado. And Fort Morgan, Colo., where Suitts bought a piece of property, was where Miller went to high school.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

PHOTO (1 -- 3) Spectacular appearance

The Terminator makes an explosive entrance Tuesday to introduce the new ``Terminator 2: 3D'' attraction at Universal Studios, top, after a daring 150-foot rappel from a Sikorski Skycrane, the world's largest transport chopper, right. Arnold Schwarzenegger, above, along with other cast members from the ``Terminator 2: 3D'' virtual adventure, was on hand for the special preview at Universal.

David Sprague/Daily News

(4) Ono

(5) Miller

(6) Houston