The latest kerfuffle between Democrat rivals County Executive Jen Metzger and County Comptroller March Gallagher was about, of all things, bridges. As it turns out, neither the sky nor the bridges are falling.

Gallagher got the ball rolling by releasing a report by the state comptroller’s office showing that 20 percent of bridges under county control were in “poor condition.”

Metzger was quick to retort that county bridges are in fact safe and that her administration has committed tens of millions of dollars to keep them that way.

Circling back, as reporters are supposed to, I asked the executive’s office some specific questions that weren’t covered in its press release and hadn’t been pursued by local media.

One of the first things I learned is that the county is responsible for 157 bridges, many of them across backwater waterways with strange-sounding names.

Every year, according to the county Highway Department’s roads and bridges branch, the county repairs or reconstructs about 10 bridges. Work is divided between county crews and outside contractors. This year, the department reports, the county will spend about $3.6 million on those projects.

Which brought some clarity to Metzger’s assertion that she had committed $38 million in this year’s budget for bridge work. It’s actually a tenth of that over a decade. But you know what they say about figures.

But the most important part of this story is of course bridge safety, and here the executive did not dissimulate.

The state DOT Department of Transportation surveys bridges on a bi-annual basis, not the comptroller. In Ulster County, that means about 80 bridges. To quote the county Public Works Department, “Any immediate threat gets prompt interim action. [In the case of] a red flag, the county responds in 24 hours.”

In some cases, the department said, that may mean posting weight limits on bridges, dropping speed limits or restricting heavy vehicles until repairs can be made.

Bottom line from the executive: “If bridges are open, they are safe.”

Comptroller Gallagher has done yeoman work as our elected watchdog over fiscal affairs. Her investigations into the county Resource Recovery Agency have yielded necessary reforms.

Her probe into bridge safety sounded to me more like a fishing expedition on a slow news mid-summer day. Some flash. No bang.

Not to pile on, but only to repeat: “If bridges are open, they are safe.”

We Liked Mike

That would be Mike Ferraro, a celebrated Kingston High School athlete who signed with the mighty Yanks in 1962 right after graduation. In truth, it is a long, long way from the low minors to the majors. Only about one in 10 make it, but Ferraro made it. A winner of the coveted Dawson Award as the best rookie in spring training, Ferraro was the Yankees’ starting third baseman in 1966. Mike Ferraro from Kingston High. Mickey, Whitey, Yogi, Elston. OMG!

Ferraro would come home on occasions to share stories of what it was like playing for the Bronx Bombers and mixing with them socially.

I think it was Joey Schuler from KNY who organized the one and only (Kingston’s) “Mike Ferraro Day” at the Stadium. Ever the promoter, Schuler rounded up 10 busloads of Ferraro fans for the trip to the House that Ruth Built. My buddy Joe Spada, who played Little League ball against Ferraro, was there with me. KNY announcer Ward Todd, who went on to bigger things, did the play-by-play from the Yankee Stadium press box. It was a day to remember.

There’s a backstory to that historic trip that Mike might have told to cronies in Kingston.

It goes like this. The Yankees had finished a road trip and were headed home for a weekend series in the Bronx the next day. Yankee announcer Frank Messer was having a nightcap with the bartender in the hotel where the team was staying.

They made small talk about baseball in general when Messer (kiddingly) asked the barkeep if he’d heard the Yanks were going to do a Mike Ferraro Day on Saturday afternoon at the Stadium.

“Mike Ferraro?” the bartender said. “You mean that backup third baseman who’s hitting about a buck 30? Why would anybody give a day to a guy like that?”

“Because,” Messer said, “Mike Ferraro is from the Hudson Valley, Kingston, and he has a lot of fans from all over the Valley. He’ll draw at least 40,000.”

The bartender took the bait. “I’ll bet you a steak dinner the next time you’re in town that Mike Ferraro Day doesn’t draw 20,000,” the bartender said.

Dutifully, the bartender checked the out-of-town box scores on Sunday. Something more than 50,000 had attended the game.

What Messer hadn’t told him was that Saturday was “Yankee Bat Day.”

Ferraro’s playing with the Yankees was all too brief. He didn’t hit after that wonderful spring training and was replaced by the end of April. Traded away, he came back to the Yankees as a coach. The Yankees saw a different talent and assigned him to manage some of their minor league teams. For 100 games he was the manager of the Cleveland Indians, fired after a 40-60 record.

Ferraro, who had married his high school sweetheart, was divorced and moved to Las Vegas where he remarried.

He died there earlier this month at 79. The Yankees observed a moment of silence at his passing at a game last week.

But the legend remains, carried forward by Zach Short, another KHS athlete who made it to the majors.

Like Ferraro, Short has been a good-glove, no-hit defensive specialist who has played with at least four teams in the majors. Short, 28, was recently assigned to the minors where he hopes for just one more chance at the big time.

Note: Here’s an interesting sidebar I uncovered while doing research on the Mike Ferraro story. As sometimes happens, Googling one name produces another, in this case, Kingston pro-bowler Dave Ferraro, one of Mike’s many cousins.

Dave had a highly successful pro career, including numerous TV appearances and election to the Professional Bowlers Hall of Fame in the late ‘80s. Along the way, Dave Ferraro, now 63, co-owner of family-operated bowling alleys in Kingston and the town of Ulster, cashed checks on tour for over $1 million, according to the PBA web site.

Mike Ferraro, during an all- too-brief 162-game Big League playing career, earned less than $20,000 back in the days before ballplayers made thousands for every at-bat.

Broadcast News

Our Me and Mario call-in show will air Friday from 7 to 9 a.m. on WGHQ 920 AM. Given the dearth of mid-summer news hereabout, we’ll be talking national events. Tune in. We’re all ears. To stream the show live, or listen to it later, click here: https://vimeo.com/user173056939