SHORT TAKES : Todd Bridges Resumes Career

Todd Bridges, the former child actor acquitted in the shooting of an alleged drug dealer, has returned to his craft in a deputy sheriff’s uniform for a part in “The New Lassie.”

Bridges, who appeared in the series “Diff’rent Strokes,” began work Wednesday on the syndicated show about the world’s most famous collie and was greeted by a dozen photographers and TV news crews.

Bridges, who has admitted to past drug problems, has a role in one episode that will air later this season.

“Todd looked good. He looked clear-eyed,” spokesman Cliff Dektar said. “Todd is clean.”

Bridges was charged in last year’s shooting of Kenneth (Tex) Clay, a convicted drug dealer, at a crack house in Los Angeles. He was acquitted of assault two weeks ago.