Kuwait is where Washington County Attorney John Gish will spend most of his time in 2020. The Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve is being deployed and will serve as an Engineer Officer. He will be in the courthouse until early February and then will report to Fort Hood, Texas in March and deploy to Kuwait several weeks later.

In his absence, Anthony Janney will take over Gish’s cases. Janney has been hired as a temporary employee and has over 30 years of experience. Gish explained what will happen with his salary while he’s gone from office, “Well, I knew that it wouldn’t be fair or right if I was still being paid by the county while serving in the Army overseas, so with the board’s permission I’ve forfeited my salary for the duration of my deployment and that will allow me to pay Anthony (Janney) without impacting the budget whatsoever.”

Before he leaves, Gish is hosting a dinner and he encourages any gifts that people would like to present be given to Healing at English River Outfitters (HERO), “I’ve served in the Army for 11 years now, this will be my second deployment, but I still feel like I can still do so much more for the community, for the country, and for my brothers and sisters in arms, so I thought that HERO would be great for me to contribute in whatever way to benefiting our area. So, January 18th I’d invite your listeners to come to Lebowski’s Rock N Bowl 5-7 p.m. I’m paying for dinner, so if anything come out for a free meal. And if anyone is feeling generous I encourage them to give to HERO.”

HERO is a non-profit in rural Washington County that works with veterans from across the country to give them activities and events in the outdoors, chances to connect with other veterans, and works to prevent veteran suicides.