KIDS AT RISK: The number of reports...

KIDS AT RISK: The number of reports alleging child abuse continues to rise in Orange County, in part because of increased public awareness (E1). But education is only part of the equation in combatting child abuse, says Kathy McCarrell, executive director of the Exchange Club Child Abuse Prevention Center. . . . “Grass-roots efforts--people volunteering, whether time or money--and legislative reform are needed. We have to make it a national priority.”

DR. MUSIC: When the pre-Broadway touring version of “Jekyll & Hyde” opens Tuesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (OC Live!), plenty of Los Angeles record executives and movie producers will be on hand. . . . The pop composer who wrote the score, Frank Wildhorn, is hot. Warner Bros. has hired him to write animated musicals, and Atlantic Records has hired him to head its new theater label. . . . “I’m inviting all my friends,” he says. “I’m proud of this show. When it gets to Broadway, I’ll invite them again.”

SENSATIONAL: Stroll over to Arlan Hurwitz’s exhibit at the Home & Garden Show--which starts Friday and runs through Aug. 27 at the Anaheim Convention Center--and he’ll let you play with his worms. Hurwitz, who owns a gardening product business in Santa Ana, will have his worm fertilizer factory and petting zoo on display--put your hand in and feel them squirm. . . . “It’s the parents who say ‘Eek;’ the kids love it,” Hurwitz says. . . . A pound of earthworms, he says, can eat a pound of garbage a day--and turn it into great garden fertilizer.

HEADS UP: Fullerton residents were uneasy recently about all the overhead helicopters rattling their windows. But their complaints to the Fullerton Airport were misdirected: The choppers were from the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station, part of an “urban training exercise.” . . . Marine spokeswoman Gloria Nacoste says the military understand the concerns, but “they have a mission to do.” . . . Warning: They’ll be back tonight.