HELPING HAND: Prosecutors are a familial group,...

HELPING HAND: Prosecutors are a familial group, even across county lines. Orange County prosecutors took notice when toxicologist Fredric Rieders testified as a defense expert at the O.J. Simpson trial this week. Rieders had been harshly criticized by jurors after he testified for Richard Overton, convicted here in May of murdering his wife by poison. . . . Local prosecutors sent sections of the Overton transcript to Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark, who will cross-examine Rieders.

DUCKING OPERA: The fledgling Orange County Light Opera company goes for theme settings for its plays. There was its recent choice of the Old County Courthouse for Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Trial by Jury.” . . . The company’s latest: “Two by Two,” Richard Rodgers’ musical comedy version of Noah’s Ark (F27). The site? The park amphitheater just outside the Santa Ana Zoo. Says its president, Marti Klein: “We’re subject to the animals. The ducks are quacking, the monkeys howling--in these cases you have to project a little more.”

A ‘B’ MOVIE? Kevin Costner, whose “Waterworld” opens at 35 Orange County movie screens today, isn’t a newcomer to the deep. Eric Hanauer of Costa Mesa once taught scuba diving to Costner at Cal State Fullerton. . . . Not that Hanauer remembers. He had to look up the name when asked about it. Says Hanauer: “He got a B, kind of an average student. I’ve certified thousands. You tend to remember only the really good ones. He probably doesn’t remember me, either.”

HAPPY CAMPERS? How do you get youngsters interested in science? One way, says Rockwell International of Seal Beach, is to send their teachers to Space Camp. Elementary teachers Janet Bell of Anaheim and Beatriz Tamo of Los Alamitos are in a group of 20 sent by Rockwell this week to the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. They’ll try simulated shuttle missions, but also get tips on teaching technology. . . . With advances in world technology, says Rockwell chairman Donald R. Beall: “It is imperative that we help prepare students.”