Two Suspects in Pierce Stabbing Surrender

Two of the three men wanted by police in the stabbing of the Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce have surrendered. Tony McCrary, 31, also known as Tony Hurston, and Trevor Watson, 34, appeared at a Boston police station Wednesday night with their lawyers. They are to be arraigned today.

Pierce, stabbed multiple times at a night club early Monday, was listed in good condition at New England Medical Center as he recovered from wounds to his face, neck and back. He could be released as early as Friday.

A warrant had been issued for Hurston, Watson and William Ragland, 28, charging all three with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Hockey

The Boston Bruins have suspended backup goalie John Grahame indefinitely after he broke his ankle away from the hockey rink.

The Bruins don’t have to pay Grahame or cover his medical expenses during the suspension, although his medical care is taken care of by the players’ association.

Grahame, 25, said he hurt himself when he tripped while stepping off a curb. The Bruins said they won’t know how long Grahame will be out until surgery is performed later this week. He is expected to miss about three months.

Luca Cereda, a 19-year-old Swiss center selected by Toronto in the first round of the 1999 draft, has a heart condition that could require valve replacement surgery. He will sit out this season.

Jean-Marc Pelletier, expected to push starting goalie Arturs Irbe in training camp, was sent to the minors by the Carolina Hurricanes.

Golf

The Learjet that carried golfer Payne Stewart to his death last October--probably after losing cabin pressure--had previous problems with its cabin pressure system, maintenance logs show.

On Feb. 9, 1998, a pilot reported that the plane sometimes would not hold cabin pressure at low altitude, and in July 1999, mechanics again were asked to check the system, according to maintenance reports released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The logs also showed that a valve had to be replaced following inflight loss of cabin pressure on June 28, 1989.

The plane Stewart was on departed Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 25, for Dallas. Radio contact was lost with the plane as it passed north of Gainesville, Fla. The flight continued on autopilot until it ran out of gas and crashed near Aberdeen, S.D.

The Women’s British Open will become the fourth major championship on the LPGA Tour calendar beginning next season, replacing the du Maurier Classic, the tour announced.

Part of the LPGA Tour circuit since 1976, the Women’s British Open joins the Nabisco Championship, the McDonald’s LPGA Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open as the designated “majors” in professional women’s golf.

The du Maurier Classic, held each summer in Canada, had been the LPGA’s fourth major. But recent legislation passed by the Canadian government forbids tobacco companies from sponsoring sporting events, and when du Maurier was forced to pull out of its LPGA sponsorship no other Canadian company jumped in to fill the void.

Jurisprudence

Andre Rison of the Oakland Raiders will have a hearing Oct. 5 in his case in which he is charged with writing bad checks.

Rison, traded by Kansas City to Oakland before the season, surrendered last Friday. He appeared Wednesday for his arraignment.

Shortly after posting a $10,000 bond last Friday, Rison appeared in court in suburban Johnson County, Kan., and pleaded no contest to a charge for failing to return a $1,000 tape recorder he rented in Overland Park.

He will be sentenced Nov. 9.

Rison was charged in Missouri in April with writing $158,000 in bad checks to a jewelry store in Atlanta. The checks were from a Jackson County bank for transactions in the county in 1998, according to prosecutors.

The Atlanta store, Elif Fine Jewelry, won a lawsuit against Rison in December for $287,900 in jewelry, plus about $43,000 in legal costs. The company went to prosecutors after it could not collect the debt.

Tennis

Third-seeded Jennifer Capriati, ranked 16th in the world, scored a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Croatian Jelena Kostanic in the opening round of the SEAT Open at Luxembourg.

Names in the News

Wake Forest center Rafael Vidaurreta underwent surgery on his right knee and may miss the beginning of the upcoming basketball season. The 6-foot-9 junior helped Wake Forest to win the NIT last season.