It’s good to see the state taking a vigilant stand against East Oahu homeowners whose vegetation is spreading beyond private property lines and into public access of the public shoreline. Some 100 beachfront homeowners from Kaalawai Beach off Diamond Head to Maunalua Bay are being warned to cut back their vegetation within 21 days of receiving a noncompliance notice or face fines: $1,000 for a first offense and $2,000 for each subsequent offense.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources oversees more than 750 miles of Hawaii shoreline and beaches, and encroachment into the public space — intentional or not — is an ongoing problem.

Remember the adage: Give someone an inch and he’ll take a yard. In this case, an inch can quickly become a taking of the public shoreline — and that’s a big no-no.

Maybe tomorrow things will be different

It’s starting to seem like the movie “Groundhog Day” around here, what with all the hurricanes and tropical storms coming one right after the other toward Hawaii, then veering off for the most part and leaving us with just some heavy rains, some flooding and lots and lots of brutal, almost unbearable humidity.

Since early August we’ve had to worry about Guillermo, Hilda, Kilo, Loke, and now Ignacio. We go to bed thinking it’s over, and the next morning it’s deja vu all over again. If this keeps up, we could soon be meeting up with Malia, Niala, Oho, Jimena, Kevin, Marty and many others — unless we can really wake up to a new tomorrow.

On the bright side, at least these storms have mostly avoided us.