Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely entertains a little girl whose mother fell ill Monday while driving through Athens. The sheriff and his staff entertained the little girl — 6-year-old Jorgia Kate Warren — while her mother was in the hospital and she was waiting for a relative to pick her up.

A 6-year-old girl and her mother were traveling cross-country Monday from just south of Ruston, Louisiana, when an unfortunate circumstance stopped them in Athens, Alabama.

Something was very wrong with the mom — some kind of medical emergency, said Stephen Young, public information officer for the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office. The little girl, Jorgia Kate Warren, knew how to dial 911 on a cellphone to get help, and that’s what she did.

The mother was taken by ambulance to Athens-Limestone Hospital, and the little girl was taken to the sheriff’s office. Now the sheriff’s office might seem like a safe but boring place to hang your hat while you wait for an uncle to come from Tennessee and your dad to come from Louisiana, but you’d be wrong.

Everyone at the office did all they could to entertain her, including Sheriff Mike Blakely, Young said.

“She rode the saddle that the sheriff (and rodeo lover) keeps in his office, and she played with some Lego blocks he has that made a horse and fence,” Young said.

And the ladies in the office? They found plenty of food for the little gal.

“She’s in good hands with the office ladies,” said Young, who said he loves days like this when they get to help someone. “The sheriff even made her an honorary deputy sheriff.”