Big Tex on fire at the State Fair of Texas

Big Tex’s biggest fans fondly recall moments with the towering State Fair icon. Smoke rises from Big Tex at the State Fair of Texas, in Fair Park, Friday morning, Oct. 19, 2012 in Dallas, TX 

A Big Texas bobble head is pictured with flowery remembrances at the site of the Big Tex fire at the State Fair of Texas on Friday, October 19, 2012. 

Big Tex, the metal cowboy whose slow drawl of "Howdy, folks!" made him an icon of the State Fair of Texas for 60 years, was destroyed Friday when flames engulfed his 52-foot-tall frame.

Smoke rises from Big Tex at the State Fair of Texas, in Fair Park, Friday morning, Oct. 19, 2012 in Dallas, TX.

Big Tex’s biggest fans fondly recall moments with the towering State Fair icon.

Big Tex has ‘bigger and better’ days ahead, say Dallas, State Fair officials.

Some fun facts about Big Tex .

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Week 3 winner in State Fair photo contest contrasted stillness and spin.

Big Tex is a symbol of everything the state fair stands for, fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding said. 

Big Tex is where my parents told me, 'If you get lost, meet at Big Tex.

The cowboy always was easy to spot, with his 75-gallon hat and 50-pound belt buckle."It was a quick end, said Bragg, who is a radio engineer outside the three weeks a year that he works at the fair.

Several Big Tex backers say he will return next year, including Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who tweeted that the icon would be rebuilt "bigger and better for the 21st Century.

My job is safe and secure, said Bragg, who has been the man behind Big Tex for 11 years. "They're telling me, 'Take the rest of the day off and we'll see you next year.

Video: Cell-phone camera captures Big Tex burning from the beginning.

State Fair of Texas icon Big Tex goes up in flames.

Guestbook: Leave condolences; share your Big Tex memories.

Big Tex on fire at the State Fair of Texas, in Fair Park, Friday morning, Oct. 19, 2012 in Dallas, TX.

Electrical fire destroys Big Tex, State Fair’s folksy icon since 1952

Big Tex, the beloved 52-foot-tall cowboy who’s watched over the State Fair of Texas for decades, caught on fire Friday morning and was quickly burnt to a crisp.

He was 60.

Big Tex is toast. The tallest talking Texan will no longer say “Hoooowwwdeee, fooolllllks!” at this year’s fair, which ends Sunday. But State Fair officials say the icon will be rebuilt in time for next year.

Some material that made up Big Tex's hands and sleeves could still be seen as firefighters gathered around the scorched area. This year's fair, which closes Sunday and had been celebrating the towering structure's birthday, went on despite the fire -- just as Big Tex would want it.

Hundreds gathered in Big Tex Circle to watch the big guy go up in flames. Many stood in tears. Others snapped pictures with their smartphones, spreading the news online as quickly as the fire spread up Big Tex. They reminisced about the good-lookin’ folksy fair mascot who first arrived at Fair Park in 1952.

No one was injured.

State Fair officials say the fire was caused by an electrical short that started in his right boot. Flames and smoke shot up his body, which acted as a chimney, said Sue Gooding, a State Fair spokeswoman.

Big Tex is a symbol of everything the state fair stands for, fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding said. "Big Tex is where my parents told me, 'If you get lost, meet at Big Tex.

The cowboy always was easy to spot, with his 75-gallon hat and 50-pound belt buckle.

Mom, daughter found dead; 2 sisters still missing

A Brooklyn mother accused of starving, drugging and beating her 4-year-old daughter to death says she never harmed the child.

Carlotta Brett-Pierce acknowledged at her trial Monday that the girl "had lost weight," but said she "didn't look bad."

Brett-Pierce and her mother, Loretta Brett, are charged with murder in the death of Marchella  in September of 2010. She weighed half what a child her age should, and had bruises and cuts on her body.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty and say they were doing the best they could.

The outcome of the murder trial may have repercussions for the child welfare workers once assigned to the family. They were charged with criminally negligent homicide and have also pleaded not guilty.

The search for two Tennessee girls is intensifying after their mother and older sister were found dead at their alleged kidnapper's house in north Mississippi.

The FBI says the bodies of Jo Ann Bain and her 14-year-old daughter, Adrienne Bain, were found behind Adam Mayes' house near Guntown. The FBI says agents believe Bain's 12- and 8-year-old daughters are still with Mayes.

The search for a man accused of abducting a Tennessee woman and her three young daughters has intensified after authorities said the mother and her oldest daughter were found dead in north Mississippi, behind a house belonging to the alleged kidnapper.

Authorities are looking for Adam Mayes, a 35-year-old family friend accused of abducting Jo Ann Bain and her daughters. Mayes was at the Bains' house helping them pack to move to Arizona when the mother and her three daughters vanished April 27, authorities said.

Bain and her three daughters disappeared April 27 as the family was packing to move to Arizona. Mayes was with them helping the family when they vanished.

FBI agents with rifles joined K-9 units and SWAT teams looking for Mayes in the woods and back roads near Guntown.

Mayes was last seen a week ago in Guntown, about 80 miles south of the Bain family's home in Whiteville, Tenn.

Both Gary Bain and Mayes were once married to sisters, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said.

Mayes had stayed over at the Bains' house to help the family pack and load up a U-Haul to drive across the country to Arizona, Helm said. Gary Bain, who was at the house that night, awoke to find his wife, daughters and Mayes gone.

He couldn't reach his wife on her cell phone that day, and reported them missing when the girls didn't get off the school bus.

Linda Kirkland, a family friend and cook at the Country Cafe in Whiteville, said the woman and her daughters were moving to Arizona because two of the girls had asthma.

Mayes also has ties to Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.

Mayes and the Bains were known around Whiteville, a town of about 4,500 people 60 miles east of Memphis. Mayes was a longtime friend of Bain's husband and had been at their home the evening before they disappeared, police said.

Singer Randy Travis Arrested in Texas

Travis, who split with his wife-manager of 19 years Lib Hatcher in 2010, was released after being booked on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. He issued a statement later apologizing “for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl.”
Police spotted the singer in his vehicle, parked in front of the town's First Baptist Church. The arresting officer said the car smelled of alcohol and contained an open bottle of wine, also reporting that Randy was slurring his speech.
Country singer Randy Travis has apologized after being arrested on a charge of public intoxication outside a North Texas church.
Denton County sheriff’s spokesman Tom Reedy says police in the town of Sanger arrested Travis early Monday after spotting a vehicle parked in front of a church and finding an open bottle of wine and Travis smelling of alcohol.
 “Forever and Ever, Amen,” was brought to the Denton County jail about 1:30 a.m. and released six hours later.

The singer, who lives in the small town of Tioga near Sanger, apologized in a statement to The Associated Press “for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl.”
Randy Travis was arrested early Monday after police said they found him seemingly disoriented with an open bottle of wine outside a Texas church, reeking of booze and slurring his words. Is that illegal? Sounds like a pretty decent song. The country star, 52, who was in a parked car, told officers from the town of Sanger he had fought with his girlfriend and was trying to get back to his ranch, 20 miles away.