Nation in brief: Roller coaster beheads teen

A teenager was decapitated by a roller coaster after he hopped a pair of fences and entered a restricted area Saturday at Six Flags Over Georgia, authorities said.

Six Flags officials are uncertain why the unidentified 17-year-old from Columbia, S.C. scaled two six-foot fences and passed signs that said the restricted area was off-limits and dangerous to visitors, spokeswoman Hela Sheth said in a news release.

Authorities were investigating reports from witnesses who said the teenager jumped the fences to retrieve a hat he lost while riding the Batman roller coaster, said Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce. Police have declined to release the teenager’s name until an autopsy is completed.

ELIZABETH, Ill.

Town draws women who share its name

The world’s most famous Elizabeth didn’t show, but about 400 others did.

The northern Illinois community of Elizabeth tried Saturday to set a world record for the largest Gathering of Elizabeths. Women with Elizabeth in any part of their name were allowed in; one participant has Elizabeth as a last name.

The event drew women from more than 20 states. Those participating had to show a copy of a birth certificate or driver’s license.

“We did invite Queen Elizabeth II, but she politely declined,” said Susan Gordy, who helped organize the event.

Elizabeth Taylor was also invited but did not reply, Gordy said.

The event was designed to celebrate the community and honor famous Elizabeths, including one of the women for whom the community of about 700 people was named.

In 1832, Elizabeth Armstrong, one of at least three Elizabeths living in the Apple River Fort settlement, played a prominent role in defending the community during an attack in the Black Hawk War, according to Gordy, who works at the Apple River Fort Historic Site.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif.

Transplant survivor scales Half Dome

A heart transplant survivor has added another first to her long string of mountaineering feats since getting a new heart 13 years ago – a dangerous 2 ½-day climb up the sheer, 2,000-foot face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park’s famed granite monolith.

Kelly Perkins, 46, and her husband, Craig, led by big-wall guide Scott Stowe, began the climb Thursday and reached the top of the iconic 8,842-foot-high dome Saturday afternoon.

The ascent completed an important circle for her. In 1996, 10 months out of the hospital with her new heart, she finished the first of many post-transplant climbs by hiking up the easier backside of Half Dome.

“I feel great. Physically, I feel I’m stronger than I’ve ever been,” Perkins said by cell phone from the top of Half Dome.

From wire reports