Sanford Bates

*"Wife? Wife? You write down you have a wife on those forms, and I'll have you arrested for fraud!" - Sanford Bates*

**Sanford Bates** was a local civil servant in Ashford Falls< New York and one of the few nonagenarian citizens in the town's history along with Thaddeus Conway, Gideon Hackle and Vernon Dickey. Known as an extremely no-nonsense authority figure in town, his reputation and presence was well known.

Not much is known about Bates' childhood or family. He was born in the tiny farming community of Almaville near Nashville, Tennessee in October 1905, and he served in the United States Army through World War One and World War Two, serving in the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG Corps) through the Thirties and the Forties. In the Fifties, he served at the United States Army Reserve Center near Albany, New York, starting his own public practice after leaving the Army. In Ashford Falls, he handled the legal and business dealings for Lincoln Hedison and the local Riddle Family before serving on the town council for Mayor Robert Hutchins. After Hutchins died in office, he was replaced by Michael Laughlin, the senior town councilman, who assigned Bates to the city clerk's office and was later voted mayor, later replaced by Lionel Creekmore.

Holding the position from 1954 to 1992 and through five mayors, Bates ran the town's property tax office, the welfare office, the county records office, human resource office, the public parks department and public works office. Hedison made him a member of the local Boosters which became part of the Eagles Club in the Sixties. While in the Boosters, he became unwillingly involved in the courtship of Horatio Pierce, the local garbage man, and Dorothy Pierce, a local heiress, and the daughter of then-Councilman Dr. Raymond Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton did not approve of Dorothy dating the local garbageman and had instead been trying to force her into a relationship with Lincoln Hedison's son, Carter Hedison, who was twenty years older, and who would be decent support for his political aspirations. Despite this arrangement, Pierce continued dating Dorothy in secret, and under an unrevealed sequence of events, they ended up married in a ceremony officiated by Pastor Arnold Magruder, Dr. Hamilton's brother-in-law. Forced to allow the marriage for unknown reasons, he set them up on an abandoned farm west of Ashford Falls in Haverstraw Canyon, stripped of Dorothy's fortune and luxuries. When Horatio tried to get welfare for them, Bates ended up getting involved as Dr. Hamilton had the money to take care of them both without having to waste welfare. Much of these events are still being speculated about as Dr. Hamilton was going through great efforts to cover up some sort of scandal, and with the help of several members of the Boosters, Bates was able to set up both Horatio and Dorothy up in a better house in town after. She ended up going to medical school and becoming the town veterinarian, and Horatio became the high school science teacher at Ashford Falls High School, later gaining some wealth with patents that were utilized in the television, computer and robotics industries.

In his public life, Bates was a genial but private person. He lived in a three-bedroom house on Griffith Street, using only the first floor for much of his life and ignoring the second floor. It is believed he was briefly married, having become a widower in the Seventies. His sister-in-law, Gladys Mendlebright, owned the local Mendlebright Antique Store, where he occasionally helped out, having sold antiques there to Carolyn Woods from Thornewood Hall and Rachel Hedison from the Hedison Mansion. At the Records Office, he was visited often by reporter Deborah Nordoff doing research for the local news. He also developed a distrust of Carter Hedison, who after his father's death was becoming a ruthless businessman. Bates butted heads with Carter several times, particularly over property and zoning codes as it related to his realty company, but Carter frequently spread money around in Mayor Carl Griggs administration to get the codes and regulations passed over to the point that Bates was often being made powerless to uphold his job.

Not much has been revealed about Bates's later years. He retired in 1995, and worked with his sister-in-law in her antique store intermittently, sometimes going on fishing trips with Dr. Albert Waverly and his brother, Jerrold Waverly.

Bates passed away somewhere between 1995 and 2002; his old house becoming the property of local contractor Jack Bates, his grand-nephew. He was buried with military honors due to his wartime experiences near his parents in Gallatin City, Tennessee; in Ashford Falls, his position in the city clerk's office was taken over by city councilman Ted Beauchamp.