Don’t drink and float this July 4

Don’t drink and drive — that’s good, common advice. But this being Hawaii, add to that wisdom the call to not drink and swim.

Water officials are discouraging July Fourth revelers from turning out en masse for a drunken “Floatilla” off Waikiki, an event that’s been popular among twentysomethings drinking while bobbing on plastic floaties in the ocean. The peak 2017 activity drew an estimated 5,000 — many in their 20s or younger, with hundreds needing help getting to shore; 10 were sent to the hospital. Last year’s turnout decreased, fortunately, so let’s hope it’s even smaller on Thursday.

A damper on Pali repair work

It would have been bigger news had it been otherwise. The Pali Highway repairs and repaving will take longer than expected — finishing at the end of November, not August.

What makes the extension more tolerable is the expansion of open hours come Sept. 1, to 5 a.m.-7 p.m. daily except Saturday.

Two words remind us, though, of the critical importance of keeping the project on course: hurricane season. Recent rains made more stabilization work necessary. Let’s hope any upcoming storms don’t upheave things further.