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largest selection & lowest prices on wine, spirits & beer SAVE $ 00 4 LB
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12 PACK 12 OZ
CELEBRATING OUR FIRST 65 YEARS
14
$
Michelob Ultra or Yuengling Flight
99
LB
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750 ML SELECTED
SAVE $ 00 6
NEW!
13
$
La Marca Prosecco or La Crema Wine
99
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750 ML
32
$
99
Aged in Blanton’s Bourbon Barrels 750 ML
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39
$
Bonanza Corazon The Vinekeeper Tequilla de Agave NAPA Cabernet Sauvignon
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THC
99
LIMIT 3
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750 ML
Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon
26
$
99
Louisiana Local
4 PACK 12 OZ
Urban South Driftee THC Seltzer
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10 99
$
Prices good at all Lafayette, New Iberia and Youngsville stores September 3rd - 10th, 2025.
SAINTS COME UP SHORT IN SEASON OPENER VS. CARDINALS 1C THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
M o n d ay, S e p t e M b e r 8, 2025
THE FORGOTTEN
STORM
20 years ago, Hurricane Rita inflicted widespread suffering in southwest Louisiana in the wake of Katrina
$2.00X
Program improves schools’ test scores
Building trust with students is also essential, principal says BY ASHLEY WHITE | Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Nicole J. Moncrief stands in the vacant lot on Aug. 25 where the home she grew up in once stood in Lake Charles. Moncrief rebuilt following Hurricane Rita in 2005, but lost her home during Hurricane Laura in 2020. BY MEGAN WYATT | Staff writer Nicole J. Moncrief was caring for her wheelchair-bound mother and her two nieces as Hurricane Rita barreled toward their Lake Charles home 20 years ago. Ahead of previous storms, none of which caused major damage, her mom was the one to secure the family home and evacuate everyone to safety. But those responsibilities fell to Moncrief, then 34, ahead of Rita. While her family evacuated north, Rita’s winds ripped open the roof of their family home, destroying most of their clothing and furniture. Moncrief tried to salvage what she could. Her neighbors, friends and family were largely in the same predicament. It’s been 20 years since the storm tore through southwest Louisiana, but the anniversary observations for it have been much quieter than the commemorations for Hurricane Katrina. Those who experienced Rita said they always experienced it as a forgotten storm, overshad-
Nicole J. Moncrief’s home on V. E. Washington Avenue in Lake Charles is pictured after Hurricane Laura ravaged the region in August 2020. PROVIDED PHOTO owed in the national media by the coverage of Katrina. Despite the lack of attention it got, the hurricane inflicted widespread suffering in southwest Louisiana. “We were kind of calling it ‘Rita
amnesia,’ ” said Mark McMurry, who served as Calcasieu Parish administrator in 2005. “All the national news was reporting on Katrina.”
ä See RITA, page 5A
“Even now, I still want to cry. All of your memories, the place we called home, your place of solace, it was gone and it wasn’t going to be there anymore. But if I had to reflect even further, the positive piece of it is that I am the house. I am the memories.” NICOLE J. MONCRIEF
WEATHER HIGH 87 LOW 65 PAGE 12C
The start of the school year at J.W. Faulk Elementary was starkly different this year than last. The building was virtually unchanged. The administrative team all returned to the front office and most of the teachers and staff returned. The difference was with the students. “It’s night and day from last year to this year,” said fourth grade teacher Marley Turner. “This year, the kids know the procedures, they know the people.” “It just makes the environment feel so much more happy and upbeat like the kids feel very at home here,” she added. The change is credited to several factors, said Principal Alysia Messa: The hard work the school’s adults poured into the campus and students last year, and the stu- Messa dents’ willingness to grow with the newly rolled out Accelerated Campus Excellence program. The program, which focuses on whole-child development, is the first of its kind in Louisiana and was brought to Faulk and Dr. Raphael Baranco elementary schools last year through a partnership between the Lafayette Parish school system and the Pugh Family Foundation. Alice Boucher Elementary implemented the program this year. The funding was guaranteed for three years.
ä See PROGRAM, page 3A
Houthi rebel drone strikes Ramon airport; Israel steps up Gaza City attacks Airspace closed, flights halted according to the Israeli military
BY MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press
TEL AVIV, Israel — A drone fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels breached Israel’s multilayered air defenses on Sunday and ä Israel’s slammed into the country’s south- Supreme ern airport, the Israeli military Court says said, blowing out glass windows, wounding one person and briefly Palestinian shutting down commercial air- prisoners aren’t space. The damage to Ramon airport getting appeared limited and flights re- enough sumed within hours. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the food. PAGE 2A strike. The attack follows Israeli strikes on Yemen’s
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ä See ISRAEL, page 3A
101ST yEAR, NO. 70