Funds raised for Texas governor's mansion

AUSTIN, Texas, July 16 (UPI) -- Texas first lady Anita Perry says she's leading a fundraising effort to restore the state's governor's mansion, heavily damaged in a fire six weeks ago.

Perry on Tuesday announced the formation of the Texas Governor's Mansion Restoration Fund, set up to accept contributions to rebuild the 152-year-old mansion in Austin where Sam Houston once lived, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

She and her husband, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, received a phone call while traveling in Sweden that the governor's mansion had burned in an apparently intentionally set blaze.

"I was absolutely devastated," she told the newspaper. "I couldn't help wonder if I would ever see the mansion standing again. When we found out about it, I said to Rick, 'I want to (raise money to rebuild the mansion). I want to do it for the state of Texas. I want to do it for the people of Texas.'"

Anita Perry said the effort would is a public-private partnership in which state legislators must approve funding.

The cost of rebuilding the mansion isn't known but could be in the tens of millions of dollars, state officials say. Debris has been cleaned from the first floor and workers have shored it up.