Milestones Jul. 7, 1997

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DIVORCED. ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, 46, flamboyant Republican pundit, and MICHAEL HUFFINGTON, 49, former California Congressman; ending their 11-year marriage; in Washington.

CHARGED. MELISSA DREXLER, 18, enigmatic teen who secretly gave birth in a rest-room stall at her senior prom, dumped her baby into the trash, then headed for the dance floor; with murder and endangering a child; in Freehold, N.J. Prosecutors say the boy was alive at the time of delivery and died of asphyxiation.

SENTENCED. EARL PITTS, 44, FBI turncoat who pleaded guilty to spying for the Russians; to 27 years in prison, longer than prosecutors had recommended; in Alexandria, Va. Pitts is only the second bureau agent ever convicted of espionage.

DIED. JOHN AKII-BUA, 47, Uganda's gold-medal-winning Olympic hurdler who, for all his leggy might, could not scale the obstacles erected by Idi Amin's brutal regime; of undisclosed causes; in Kampala, Uganda. At Munich in 1972, Akii-Bua dashed to a record-breaking finish and joyously leaped over the hurdles a second time. He was later barred from international competition by the government and driven into exile.

DIED. BETTY SHABAZZ, 61, Malcolm X's steadfast widow; of third-degree burns suffered in a fire allegedly set by her grandson; in New York City. In 1965, as her husband was shot repeatedly, Shabazz, pregnant with twins, flung herself over her daughters. Her first impulse, to protect the children, never wavered. A devout Muslim, she earned a doctorate in education administration, and embodied her husband's message of dignity for African Americans.

DIED. BRIAN KEITH, 75, sturdy actor who played a police chief, a President and just about every other authority but God; by shooting himself, ending his struggle with cancer; in Malibu, Calif. Audiences preferred Keith as a father figure: he was the dad in The Parent Trap and a guardian in TV's Family Affair.

DIED. DON HUTSON, 84, fleet-footed Green Bay Packers receiver; in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The "Alabama Antelope" held the record for career touchdown receptions (99) for four decades.

DIED. JACQUES-YVES COUSTEAU, 87, prophet of the depths; in Paris. Cousteau co-invented the Aqua-Lung, the first scuba-diving device, in 1943. Weightless and wide-eyed, he recorded the watery wilderness he encountered in The Silent World, a 1953 best seller and Oscar-winning documentary. He aspired higher than the earthly titles he collected over the years (author, filmmaker, environmentalist), writing "Under water, man becomes an archangel." (See Eulogy below.)