The man himself is slightly taller and the crowd is expected to be the biggest ever at the Burning Man festival running through the weekend in the desert 120 miles north of Reno.
  
More than 30,000 people attended last year's counterculture event. Festival organizers say they already had sold more tickets than that as of Thursday, but they refuse to disclose the total.
  
The wooden man that is burned in effigy on Sunday night is about 40 feet taller but rises a bit higher than the usual 90 feet because the base is slightly bigger than past years.

The Washoe County sheriff's office plans extra patrols this weekend to be on the lookout for drunken drivers in the Gerlach area.

Deputies want to make sure people attending the festival don't continue partying when they head out on the road.

The enforcement action will run Friday through Monday.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)