Danny, we're glad we knew ye
Highwayman Ballard feted for decades of service on the roads
"He's done a heck of a job for us and I don't know how the taxpayers
could have asked for more," said Supervisor Tom Hynes of long-time Highway
Superintendent Dan Ballard as he retired after more than two decades of making
Roxbury roads passable, including weathering at least three floods and seeing
the department out of an old and inadequate building and into a new highway
garage. A large crowd of family, friends and colleagues gathered at the Hidden
Inn in South Kortright on Friday, June 22, to pay homage to Danny and have
a lot of laughs. Diane Pickett, Roxbury Town Clerk, presented Dan with a
handsome plaque and commending him for his skill at "fixing up messes." Diane
also considers Danny the tops when it comes to knowing all the best . . .
news. "You could tell when he had something good because you'd see it
in 
his step when he walked into Town Hall in the morning. He looked like
a child on Christmas morning. 'Have you heard the latest?' he'd say. He even
told me a couple of things about myself I hadn't heard yet," quipped
Diane. Despite some jokes at Dan's expense about the ready use of "emergency" status
to get non-budgeted equipment through the red tape, no one would joke about
the quality of Roxbury's roads, which are some of the best, and the best
maintained in the county.
Danny's not only served as Roxbury's Highway Superintendent, he's been president of the Highway Superintendents' Association for more than a decade, and he's "the man" at Fonda Raceway. "He doesn't give up ever," attested Scott Hubbard, who says Danny's racing blood is so fierce they've even raced riding mowers (Danny made sure Scott wound up the ditch.) Peg Ellsworth remembers painting the number on Danny's first race car but wasn't about to say how long ago that was, and Scott admits "Dan's older than the [Fonda] race track and he keeps winning."
Supervisor Hynes gave Dan a framed version of a decades-old photo (Dan in
mustache) that always seems to turn up every time the paper needs one, and
a certificate to Turning Stone Resort for Dan and his wife Marilyn to enjoy.
As his good friend Jeff from Peckham Industries said, "It's time to
sit back, relax and enjoy your left turns." And maybe sleep in a some
times? Not that Danny didn't know how to deal with the folks who turned up
in the pre-dawn hours, banging on his front door, and complaining that their
road was slippery and needed to be plowed right away. "Well," he'd
say,"You got out OK, didn't you?"