People in Tioga, Texas rally behind troubled country singer Randy Travis

by Guide Live Group

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Will he get it together? One can only hope.

Mona Reeder

A guitar signed by Randy Travis hangs in Clark's Outpost in Tioga, Texas.

Country star Randy Travis might be a pop-culture punchline right now after a couple of recent high-profile run-ins with the law. (Getting charged with a DWI after being found naked in the middle of the road will do that.)

But in the small Grayson County town of Tioga, where Travis lives, they’re coming to the defense of their neighbor, James Ragland writes in this morning’s paper.

“All of us have problems or issues in our lives from time to time,” Donna Carney, Tioga’s city secretary, told Ragland. “We just don’t have to live through them in a fishbowl.”

The list of Travis’ 2012 legal woes: arrested for public intoxication in February in Sanger and ended up paying a fine for a reduced charge of illegal parking; on August 7, allegedly went on a naked shopping jaunt at a Pilot Point convenience store and later wrecked his car in Grayson County (and allegedly threatened to “shoot and kill” the troopers who found him); August 23, allegedly got in a fight in the parking lot of a Plano church and was cited for simple assault.

Will he get it together? One can only hope. Even if Travis does get himself straightened out, music critic Mario Tarradell thinks it will be too late for his career and credibility.

But it sounds like the people of Tioga are rooting for him, no matter what. Check out Ragland’s full story here.