Mothership

LEGAL BRIEFS Yesterday was celebrity docket day in Manhattan's family court, as several single moms tried to get Sean Combs, Harvey Keitel, Wesley Snipes, and rapper Black Rob to cough up child support. Combs failed to appear at the appointed time, forcing a postponement of his hearing until today and causing the judge to threaten to issue an arrest warrant if he again failed to show on time. The erstwhile Puff Daddy, who arrived later in the afternoon, blamed Kim Porter, mother of their three-year-old son Christian, for the delay, saying he didn't show earlier because she had made additional last-minute demands, which he felt rendered their previous proposed settlement void. He accused her of trying to drum up publicity, telling the New York Post, ''She just wants her picture in the paper.''

Snipes didn't appear but was represented by counsel who argued against a petition by Lanise Pettis, an Indiana woman who says the ''Blade'' star is the father of her five-month-old boy, Israel. He's never even met the woman, Snipes' lawyer insisted. As for Black Rob (real name: Robert Ross), he defied a subpoena to appear at a hearing over support for Robert Jr., his six-year-old by ex-wife Anita Speller. His failure to appear led to a warrent for his arrest and a retroactive increase in his support payments, from $1,333 to $3,394 a month, dating back two years.

The only famous father who showed yesterday was Keitel, whose liaison with potter Lisa Karmazin produced a son, Hudson, five months ago. Keitel, who married another woman, Israeli-born filmmaker/actress Daphna Kastner (''Spanish Fly''), shortly after Hudson's birth, had been paying $3,000 a month in support. Karmazin, who earns only $10,000 a year, asked for an increase to $7,000 a month, but Keitel's lawyer argued that she had chosen to live a spartan lifestyle and therefore didn't need the extra bucks. The court split the difference and awarded her $5,000 a month....

Comedian Kevin Meaney wasn't making anyone laugh at the San Francisco airport on Sunday, where a scuffle with security officials led to his arrest. The former ''Make Me Laugh'' host got in an argument with National Guardsmen over his use of a video camera at the security checkpoint, a violation of federal law. Then he got upset when his wife set off security sensors, leading screeners to ask her to lift her blouse and show her bra. He allegedly grabbed the butt of a guardsman's rifle, which is a felony. He was arrested and booked into the San Mateo County Jail on that charge, as well as two misdemeanor charges of battery and disturbing the peace. Released on bail, Meaney is due in court on April 8.

PASSING NOTES Doreen Waddell, who sang with British R&B collective Soul II Soul from 1988 to 1992, died Monday after being struck by three vehicles on a highway in Shoreham, England. The accident occurred after a robbery of a Shoreham supermarket, when employees saw two men and a woman fleeing toward the road. Waddell, 36, was apparently the woman the staffers saw running up the embankment and getting hit by a van, though it's not clear from initial reports if she was involved in the robbery. Known as Do'Reen during her years with the band, she sang lead on such tracks as ''Feel Free'' and ''Happiness.''...

Country Music Hall of Fame member Harlan Howard, who co-wrote Patsy Cline's ''I Fall to Pieces,'' died Sunday in Nashville at 74. Howard wrote more than 100 top 10 hits for such artists as Ray Charles, George Jones, Buck Owens, Glen Campbell, and Conway Twitty.