YOUNGSTOWN Beachum denies signing for high school

YOUNGSTOWN -- School Board President Lock P. Beachum Sr. said he was never at a July presentation on black architect P. Ross Berry at the Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church.
Beachum said he attended a Juneteenth celebration that day but left before the presentation began. Former city Councilman Herman "Pete" Starks said he was at the event and did see Beachum leave before the presentation.
Both Beachum and Starks said they signed petitions supporting the naming of a school after Berry, but not the high school. Starks said many petition pages were circulated that were titled simply "The P. Ross Berry Memorial Naming Project" without specifying a high school, and those are pages the men signed.
The Rev. Lewis W. Macklin II, pastor of Holy Trinity, has said Beachum was at the Juneteenth event when he signed a petition in support of naming the high school to be built on the East Side after Berry. The Rev. Mr. Macklin said it is possible Beachum left before the presentation, but, he added, he told signers that the petition was specifically for the high school name.
The school board voted 4-to-3 this week to name the new school East High School. Beachum supported the East High School name and said he vehemently disagrees with naming the new high school anything else.