English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Shreveport, LA

James Bowie, the collections manager at the Caddo-Shreveport Sales & Use Tax Office, is waiting.

He is tasked with putting the finishing touches on a report that will show the impact Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's Humor & Harmony event had on the Downtown Shreveport's Special Revenue Fund District.

The district is an area that runs roughly from the Clyde Fant Parkway west to Market Street and from Lake Street north to Cross Bayou. It does not include the Shreveport Convention Center, the Shreveport Hilton Hotel, the casinos, and a few small businesses north of Fannin Street.

It does include the largest part of the downtown footprint of the Humor & Harmony weekend in August, including the G-Dome tent, Red River District pop ups and children's inflatables at Festival Plaza.

The problem is that Bowie doesn't have the numbers.

His office is still waiting for the entity that took in the money from the Humor & Harmony activities to file their sales tax report. At some point if the report is not filed, Bowie said, "All we can do is assess them. We can just assume you made 'X' amount, and we can assess you."

Bowie predicts some give and take in the numbers. Sales tax for parking on the lot that housed the G-Dome was lost, but there will be revenue on the events there.

From the numbers he has collected from the locally owned businesses in the district, he said, "Some of the businesses actually reported doing less because of all the events, and people spending money related to 50 Cent stuff instead."

The 2024 sales tax report to date also seems to show big jumps in district revenue outside of the Humor & Harmony window.

In September, sales taxes were up 37.2%. In July, they were up 31.5%, in March, up 22.5%. Bowie said context is needed.

"I will tell you what happens a lot of times when these numbers show up crazy like that, what will happen is you'll get two or three of the larger businesses, predominantly bars or restaurants, that will miss a month or two filing, and then all of a sudden, they catch up. And that's generally what triggers those big jumps, unless there's a major event, you know, like the Revel, or, you know, something like that, right?"

After checking, Bowie confirmed that the various months had bars, restaurants and clubs missing payments and then doubling or trebling up. One spike was partially attributed to the Red River Revel filling hotel rooms in the district.

He says the missed payments can "throw off a report."

"It can make it look very strange. Or you can have months that you thought would have done better, but you had businesses that didn't remit."

Bowie is hopeful the August Humor & Harmony number will be available shortly because it's a report the Sales & Use Tax Office hopes to present only once. "We want to make sure it's as perfect as we can get it."

Email Liz Swaine at Liz.Swaine@theadvocate.com.

If there's one thing 13-year-old Reace Payton knows about raising goats, it's that it isn't easy.

"It's a lot of hard work. You've got to get up early in the morning," Payton said.

But that hard work is more than half the point, and on Tuesday the Minden teenager was among many from around the state hoping all their effort would pay off. They'd all brought goats, hogs, lambs, chickens and steer to the Louisiana State Fairgrounds to participate in the 88th Junior Livestock Sale, an annual charity event meant to reward the long hours, hard labor and work ethic 4-H and Future Farmers of America programs aim to inspire in young people around the country.

The Junior Livestock Sale, presented by the Ark-La-Tex Agricultural Council and conducted in the State Fair Sale Arena, is designed to be the culmination of a year's worth of work for its 4-H and FFA participants. Both a learning experience and a business venture, the sale's participants are expected to select, feed, groom over the course of the year and then bring the animal to market. Buyers don't take the animals home after the auction, but their bids are awarded to the children to facilitate their education or their next project.

"These kids that are here have selected and fed and exercised and watered and groomed and vetted and everything to get them to a point where they can get the most out of them," said Kay Stough, Ark-La-Tex Ag Council executive director. "They came to show them at the shows, and if they place at the top of their class, then they make the sale. So this is actually the marketplace for them to benefit from all their labors."

The sale's buyers often are local businesses pooling their dollars and bidding against each other for the honor of supporting prize animals and their keepers, Stough said. Sale participants meet prospective buyers and pitch their projects before the auction begins.

Stough said the auction Tuesday was expected to raise around $500,000. The animals, after the sale, are sold for food, and that money also goes to supporting the kids.

"The money they get, some of the kids put it toward college. Some of the kids use it to buy next year's project. Some of them use it to replace tires on their trailers. It's just a really good thing to keep them going," Stough said.

Payton said Tuesday he was hopeful this year's sale would help him buy a new goat and a blower for grooming them — the one he's got right now isn't meant for goats, he said.

"Hopefully I can get some money and buy me a new goat and upgrade my project for goats," Payton said. "The blower we've got now, it is just like a dog blower."

But the process is its own reward, Stough said. The 4-H and FFA programs place a premium on developing work ethic and participants' future prospects. There's always hope they'll grow up to be farmers but all the projects' lessons can be valuable in themselves.

"A lot of these kids do other things besides livestock. Some of them play football. Some of them are dancers. Some of them do taekwondo. But they have got to learn time management. These animals need to be fed twice a day. Before school, and then they do it all again when they get home. If it's cleaning stalls, that has to be done on a regular basis as well," Stough said. "These kids have worked so hard. They're not gamers. If they play football or do something else, it's really a time management lesson."

After nine years of showing her livestock around Louisiana, 17-year-old Hallie Primeaux gets what the program has tried to teach her. The Vermillion Parish teenager brought her hogs to the State Fair Grounds Tuesday, one of which was awarded as grand overall market hog and another as grand Louisiana-bred market hog. She's been to enough shows to have learned what it takes to have her animals so recognized — and it isn't just wishing and hoping.

"You're not just going to win every time. You have to put in work to be successful," Primeaux said. "If you don't put in the work, then most of the time you're not going to be successful."

Email Adam Duvernay at Adam.Duvernay@TheAdvocate.com or follow him on Twitter, @bylineDuvernay. Sign up for the daily Shreveport-Bossier email newsletter or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.