By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
President Obama on Wednesday nominated U.S. Marshals for the northern and southern districts of West Virginia and in North Dakota.
The nominees, according to the White House, include: John Foster for the Southern District of West Virginia; Paul Ward for North Dakota and Gary M. Gaskins for the Nothern District of West Virginia.
The bios of each nominee are as follows, as provided by the White House:
*John Foster is a Judicial Security Inspector with the United States Marshals Service (USMS) in the Southern District of West Virginia. Since 2007, he has overseen the protection of federal judges, U.S. attorneys, federal public defenders, and other court personnel. He joined the USMS in 1990 as a Deputy U.S. Marshal. From 1985 to 1990, Mr. Foster was a trooper with the West Virginia State Police in Summersville, WV. He is retired from the West Virginia Air National Guard, in which he served from 1980 to 2000. Mr. Foster was awarded a Regents Bachelor of Arts degree from Glenville State College in 1991. He has also earned an Associate’s Degree in Fire Science from the Community College of the Air Force in 1989, and an Associate’s Degree in Political Science from Marshall University in 1986.
*Paul Ward is a Senior Special Agent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General, a position he has held since 1989. From 1986 to 1989, he was a Special Agent with the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigations. Mr. Ward served as a Police Officer for the City of Nashua, New Hampshire, from 1985 to 1986, and as a Detective Lieutenant with the Ward County Sheriff’s Department in Minot, North Dakota from 1979 to 1985. Prior to that, he was a Police Officer in Minot, and served with the U.S. Air Force Security Police. Mr. Ward was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree from Minot State University in 1983.
*Gary Gaskins was the Captain with the West Virginia State Police, Troop 1 Headquarters when he retired on October 30, 2009. He held that position from 2005. He is a career-long employee of the State Police, having joined in 1976 and serving as a Trooper with the Clarksburg Detachment until 1988. Mr. Gaskins has been promoted through the ranks and served throughout West Virginia, including assignments in Fairmont, Glenville, Bridgeport, and Morgantown. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Project Safe Neighborhood Steering Committee, a law enforcement initiative managed by the Department of Justice. Mr. Gaskins graduated from Fairmont State College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice in 1994.
