<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Who do we call to report illegal dumping of large items like furniture in the unincorporated areas of Calcasieu Parish?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Residents can report illegal dumping and littering in the unincorporated areas by calling the litter hotline at 493-LITR.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“The parish will send a litter enforcement officer to investigate the issue,” Tom Hoefer, head of the Police Jury’s communications department, said in a statement forwarded to The Informer.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Frequently the officer is able to determine the source of the items and locate the responsible parties.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Hoefer noted that the parish provides two Residential Solid Waste Convenience Centers — at 5500 B Swift Plant Road East in Lake Charles and 2915 Post Oak Road in Sulphur. They’re open 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Monday and are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Waste center guidelines, according to the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury’s website:</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Only parish residents may use the sites; they must have driver’s licenses.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">The sites only accept residential solid waste — no commercial, industrial or medical waste.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Residents may deposit up to five tires per day.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">The sites accept paint cans, but the cans must be open and the paint inside must be dry.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Residents should remove the doors from white goods.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Residents must drain the fluids from motors, tanks and cans; the sites don’t accept automotive oils, grease or antifreeze.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Residents should double-bag animal carcasses.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">All waste dropped off at the sites must fit in the containers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Among the recyclables accepted at the sites are aluminum, tin and steel cans; brown paper bags; cardboard; magazines, newspapers and phone books; plastic bottles; and empty aerosol cans.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.cppj.net.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadBrief">New state sales tax has 65 exemptions</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">What kind of things are exempt from the new sales tax?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Among the 65 exemptions from the one-cent sales tax passed in the first special session of the Legislature, as listed in a state Revenue Department bulletin:</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Food for home consumption.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Prescription drugs.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Gasoline and other motor fuels subject to the state excise tax on fuel.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Sales to the United States government and its agencies.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Property purchased for exclusive use outside the state.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Sales of raw agricultural products.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Donation to schools and food banks from resale inventory.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Manufacturers rebates on new motor vehicles.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Purchases made with food stamps and WIC.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Stocks, bonds, notes or other obligations or securities.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Sales through coin-operated vending machines.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Purchases of food items for school lunch or breakfast programs by nonpublic elementary or secondary schools.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Funeral directing services.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Feed and feed additives for animals held for business purposes.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Farm products produced and used by farmers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Sales of fertilizers and containers to farmers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Sales of seeds for planting crops</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Sales of pesticides for agricultural purposes.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">The cost price for the printing of a news publication.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">The sale of livestock, poultry, and other farm products direct from a farm.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The tax will run through June 30, 2018, after which the state’s levy on sales will drop back to 4 cents.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">http://revenue.louisiana.gov.</span>

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<span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">The I</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nform</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">er answers questions from rea</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ders each Sunday, Monday a</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nd Wednesday. It is re</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">searched and written by</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Andrew Perzo</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">, an</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">American Press</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">staff wri</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ter. To ask a question, call</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">494-409</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">8 and leave voice mail, or ema</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">il informer@americanpress.com.</span>