GETTING PROTECTION: So much happened in 1995...

GETTING PROTECTION: So much happened in 1995 maybe you’ve forgotten: It was a year ago this week that heavy rainstorms left 1,800 local homes and businesses flooded and caused $57 million in damage. . . . The Santa Ana River flood protection upgrading by the Army Corps of Engineers is now more than half finished--including 17 miles through Orange County. . . . The final 14 miles, reaching the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains, will include an earthen dam as tall as the Washington Monument, and should be done by 1999.

NO MORE CARLO: Police auxiliaries have fund-raisers, and it’s rare for a police department to ask for public cash contributions. But Fullerton police say it’s the only way they can replace Carlo, the German shepherd who’s been sniffing out contraband for them for six years. Carlo is suffering from arthritis, and budget cuts mean no funds to replace him. “We’re turning to the public for assistance,” says Sgt. Glenn Deveney ([714] 738-5300 for information). The department needs $7,500--and checks are fine.

GOING HOLLYWOOD: Fidel Castro a Hollywood movie fan? Chapman University screenwriting professor Mark Axelrod will be teaching a course in Havana this month on Hollywood screenwriting. It’s at the International School for Film and TV, co-founded by Castro and Nobel winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The students will be Asian, African and Latin American. . . . “They all know about Hollywood,” Axelrod says. “But they don’t know how Hollywood wants its movies written.”

HOTEL ON WHEELS: The aisles are always jammed at the Great Western Outdoor & Recreation Show at the Anaheim Convention Center--which opens Wednesday and runs through Sunday. Its newest spectacle: the world’s longest RV, built by San Tek Trailers in Brea for a German tour operator. The recreational vehicle is 85 feet long, with two baths, a spa and a flip-out rear patio. And, of course, each sleeping unit has its own VCR. Admission to the show is $7.50.