By Kay S. Pedrotti Joe Bostwick’s regular trip out for breakfast at Hardee’s recently would have been a disaster without quick intervention from his grandsons when the mayor fell asleep at the wheel. Tripp Bostwick, 11, and Gordon Murray, 9, rolled out of bed early to ‘go to Hardee’s with Papa,’ said Tripp. Starting out from Evans Road in Joe’s 1987 Honda, the three went through Milner on Main Street/Old Highway 41 ‘“ and then through a stop sign at the four-lane as Joe’s chin dropped onto his chest, Tripp continued. Gordon, the front passenger, grabbed the wheel to try to keep the car in the roadway. Tripp jumped over the seat and took over steering while Gordon said he was ‘yelling in Papa’s ear ‘˜Wake up! Wake up!” Both boys used their judgment to work the pedals before Joe finally came awake and started driving again, they said. Tripp said, ‘Papa got into a ditch, hit a cement block and got stuck. He kind of woke up and we got him out of the ditch. Then he drove on into town and kept falling asleep off and on, in and out, so he was trying to tell me when and where to turn.’ Gordon said the journey into town included another dip into a ditch and running another stop sign. Gordon and Tripp reported the car was ‘about in front of English’s (Antiques) when Papa hit a truck and destroyed the front of his car. He got out to try to find the truck person and couldn’t stand up. We had called Grandma (Shirley Bostwick).’ The boys decided the best thing to do was to walk to Hardee’s rather than getting back into Papa’s car, said Gordon. Joe did make it to Hardee’s and ate two biscuits but doesn’t remember it. Tripp said, ‘It was kind of scary, especially when I couldn’t turn fast enough a couple of times ‘“ narrow escapes.’ Joe says he remembers almost none of what happened. ’I just thank the Lord for those boys,’ Joe added, ‘because I know without them I probably wouldn’t be here and I hate to think what might have happened to them. They’re some real heroes.’ Tripp will be in sixth grade at Griffin Christian Academy this fall and spends a lot of time with his grandparents. Gordon will be a fourth grader at Crescent Elementary in Griffin where his parents, Bill and Holly Bostwick Murray, reside. On an ironic note, the truck Joe hit belonged to Ed Turner of Farm Bureau, who carries Joe’s insurance.
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