FOR THE RECORD

Sergeants' Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins waited four days later than his police union colleagues to respond to Mayor Bloomberg's assertion that the cops involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell acted excessively, but when he did he came in stronger by demanding an apology.

"Mayor Bloomberg urged the public not to rush to judgment, but then said that he felt the officers' actions were inexplicable and unacceptable," Sergeant Mullins noted in a Dec. 1 statement. "How can anyone not rush to judgment when words like that are used by the city's highest elected official to describe such a potentially volatile incident?"

Mr. Bloomberg's chief spokesman, Stu Loeser, confined his response to saying, "The Mayor has been trying to bring people in New York together."

Shortly after Mr. Bloomberg told reporters Nov. 27 regarding the shooting outside a Queens strip club, "It's hard to understand why 50-odd shots should be taken," the leaders of the Detectives' Endowment Association - which represents four of the five cops who fired their service weapons - and the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association contended that he had potentially tainted the case by implying that the cops were guilty of doing something wrong.

"So much for allowing the investigation to proceed without rushing to judgment," DEA President Mike Palladino remarked. PBA head Pat Lynch contended that the Mayor's making such statements when the facts of the case had yet to be established could "only serve to inflame tensions and prejudice the rights of those who are presumptively innocent."

Others viewed Mr. Bloomberg's remarks as an attempt to assure New Yorkers that he would not reflexively side with the cops - as ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani generally did - in a case that involved a fatal shooting by police of an unarmed black man. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, though, took a notably more reserved position on the matter than the Mayor, even while noting that the officers involved had not followed key departmental guidelines in responding to what they deemed to be a life-threatening situation.

Where Mr. Lynch and Mr. Palladino intended their comments strictly as a counterbalance to Mr. Bloomberg's by reminding the public that their members were entitled to the benefit of the doubt, particularly while the case remains under investigation, Mr. Mullins was less restrained, attacking two black officials who have been prominent in the case since shortly after the Nov. 25 shooting.

While stating, "My heart goes out to the Bell family," the SBA leader criticized the Mayor for what he described as aligning himself with men he branded "merchants of hate," the Rev. Al Sharpton and Brooklyn City Councilman Charles Barron. Mr. Barron, a former Black Panther who in recent years has made a series of incendiary statements about police, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting suggested that black residents might begin retaliating if there were further shootings by cops.

The Reverend Sharpton has served as an adviser and spokesman for the Bell family. But Sergeant Mullins asserted that he and Mr. Barron "paint all cops with the same broad brush of racism, which makes them guilty of being exactly who they purport not to be."

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New York State United Teachers announced last week that nearly 10,000 of its members participated in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks throughout the state in October, raising more than $875,000.

The Jones Beach walk, which included 1,700 members of the United Federation of Teachers and NYSUT's Long Island chapters, raised more than $210,000. NYSUT members in the Mid-Hudson and Elmsford regions raised a total of nearly $160,000, while the union's Rochester and Buffalo chapters each had more than 1,000 members participate and raised a combined $135,000. More than 700 members, their families and friends turned out for an Albany Capital District walk that produced $110,000.

For the second consecutive year, NYSUT dedicated its efforts to the memory of former UFT and American Federation of Teachers President Sandy Feldman, who died of breast cancer.

During the past four years, NYSUT-sponsored walks have raised more than $2.2 million to build awareness while raising funds for research.