Free Republic

(CBS) LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A girl's feet were cut off Thursday at Six Flags' Kentucky Kingdom, police confirmed to Louisville, Ky., TV station WLKY. Police said they got the call around 5 p.m. Thursday. Both of the girl's feet were detached at the ankle. According to MetroSafe dispatch supervisors, the girl was riding the Superman Tower of Power, which is 177 feet tall and drops riders at 54 mph. According to Kentucky Kingdom, the girl was injured when the ride malfunctioned.

(AP) A dozen riders on an Arkansas roller coaster spent half an hour hanging upside down — 150 feet above the ground — after a power outage shut down the attraction. It took about 30 minutes for the city Fire Department to rescue the riders using a ladder truck Saturday evening, said Aundrea Crary, spokeswoman for the Springs & Crystal Falls amusement park. Spectators cheered when the riders were brought to the ground from the highest point of a loop on the X-Coaster, but one passenger threw up after reaching safety. The X-Coaster was one of several rides brought to...

No screaming on the Screamer! A suburban amusement park has gotten so many complaints from neighbors about bloodcurdling screams that it has instituted a no-shrieking rule for its scary new thrill ride, the Scandia Screamer, a gigantic, windmill-like contraption that sends people plunging 16 stories to Earth at nearly 60 mph. Riders who let out a screech -- or just about any other noise -- are pulled off and sent to the back of the line. "After the first complaint, our rule was no profanity," said Steve Baddley, general manager at the Scandia Family Fun Center. "Then neighbors said it...

Millions of migrants have crossed illegally from Mexico into the United States. Their experience could hardly be more real. But now at a controversial theme park in Mexico, tourists can pretend to be an illegal migrant. Torch, check. Heavy boots, check. Willingness to hide under bushes, check. Ability to see in the dark, an advantage. Preparation for what, you might think? A hike across Dartmoor? Try a night out in a theme park. But when I say theme park, do not think Alton Towers or Disneyland. Think, instead, illegal migrants. Because now you can pretend to be an illegal migrant...

IXMIQUILPAN, Hidalgo — On a misty, moonless night, the group scurried down the canyon wall, their feet slipping in the an kle-high mud. The sirens grew louder as their guide, clad in a ski mask and known only as Poncho, urged them to run faster. “Hurry up! The Border Pa trol is coming!” A couple in matching de signer tennis outfits loped awkwardly along, the boyfriend clutching a digi tal video camera and strug gling to keep the pop-out screen steady. The 20 or so people flee ing the Border Patrol aren’t undocumented immi grants — they’re tourists about 700...

Good evening everyone. I would like to make a response to this older article that I was sent: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1603947/posts

Chinese shipyard workers have been repairing a badly damaged ex-Russian aircraft carrier and have repainted it with the country's military markings, raising the question once again of whether China is pursuing longer-term plans to field its first carrier. In the latest developments, images show that workers at the Chinese Dalian Shipyard have repainted the ex-Russian Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Varyag with the markings and colour scheme of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy (PLAN). Additional new photographs show that other work, the specifics of which could not be determined, appears to be continuing and that the condition of the vessel is...

Seven-Year-Old Boy Dies on Water Ride at N.Y. Amusement ParkBy Jim Fitzgerald Associated Press Writer Published: Aug 3, 2005 RYE, N.Y. (AP) - A 7-year-old boy was found dead in the water of a boat ride at an historic amusement park Wednesday after he didn't emerge from a tunnel, authorities said. The boy apparently climbed out the boat and got caught in the conveyor belt of the Ye Old Mill, a boat-in-the-dark ride, at Playland in Westchester. The ride that killed the Norwalk, Conn., boy, whose name was not released, is "one of our most benign," County Executive Andrew Spano...

Starting today, Six Flags Great America visitors will see signs throughout the amusement park prohibiting them from eating gum, candy and other foods while on rides. The new restrictions come two days after the death of an 11-year-old Gary, Ind. girl who choked on a piece of taffy while riding the Raging Bull roller-coaster. Officials at the Gurnee amusement park say signs had been in place at some rides with a more general warning forbidding "food and drinks." "We are now making sure that (signs) will be at every single ride at the park," spokeswoman Susie Storey said Monday. No...

1 Dead In Kennywood Collapse Several More Reportedly Injured POSTED: 7:37 p.m. EDT May 31, 2002 UPDATED: 9:29 p.m. EDT May 31, 2002 WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. -- The roof of a structure that houses a Kennywood Park ride collapsed during severe storms Friday night, causing one death and several injuries, WTAE's Susan Koeppen reported. The collapse happened around 7 p.m. at The Whip, which is in the Lost Kennywood area of the amusement park. People were said to be running for safety while debris flew around in the high winds, trees were uprooted, and branches snapped off. A park official...