BACKGROUNDS

atty. James B. Callen

Education: Austintown Fitch High School, 1963; Ohio State University, 1968; University of Akron School of Law, 1976.

Military Service: Four years as Air Force intelligence officer.

Residence: Austintown

Family: Wife, Peggy; daughters, Leslee and Jennifer; and six grandchildren.

Employment: Mahoning County Legal Assistance Association and Northeast Ohio Legal Services, 1977-2013; executive director of NOLS from 1998 until his retirement.

Politics: Ran in 2002 against Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who won re-election by 44,000 votes.

Atty. Cherie Howard

Education: North High School, Youngstown, 1965; Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio, 1969; Kean College, Union, N.J., master’s degree, 1976; University of Akron School of Law, 1982.

Residence: Liberty

Family: Daughter, Atty. Kristin Howard; son, Preston Howard.

Employment: Recruitment and Training Program for minorities and women in construction trades, Youngstown; 1977-78; NOLS. 1981-83, 1985-89, 1998 to 2013; UAW-GM Legal Services, Austintown, 1983-85; Director of income maintenance and deputy director of Bedford-Stuyvesant Legal Services, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1990-98.

First run for office: Finished second in the four-candidate 1989 Democratic primary for Youngstown Municipal Court judge, which was won by Andrew Polovischak Jr., who went on to win in November.

Second run for office: Received 48.1 percent of the vote in the two-candidate 2005 Democratic primary against incumbent Judge Robert P. Milich of Youngstown Municipal Court, who went on to win re-election in November.

Source: Callen, Howard and Vindicator files