News events of 1997
July 1997
7-2-1997 -- Dayton city commissioners approved financing for a baseball stadium, calling the project an anchor for downtown and riverfront development.
7-2-1997 -- Actor Jimmy Stewart died at 89.
7-4-1997 -- The NASA Pathfinder landed on Mars and began sending back photos.
7-9-1997 -- Central State University alumnus John W. Garland was named CSU's new president. CSU trustees voted unanimously to appoint Garland, who was then associate vice provost at the University of Virginia.
Cody Smith | 
India Smith |
7-9-1997 -- Two children were reported missing from their home in Urbana. India Smith, 11, and Cody Smith, 4, were reportedly last seen by their step-father, Kevin Neal.
7-9-1997 -- Mike Tyson's boxing license was revoked by the state of Nevada because of his ear-biting behavior in his recent bout with Evander Holyfield. Tyson can appeal the ban once a year or seek to fight elsewhere.
7-10-1997 -- The Downtown Dayton Partnership announced that a baseball team was chosen to bring to Dayton. The announcement said Sherrie Myers had agreed to buy the Rockford (IL) Cubbies and move the team to Dayton in 1999.
7-11-1997 -- Hamilton native Glen Rogers was sentenced to die for the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs in Florida.
7-14-1997 -- Dayton Daily News Editor Max Jennings announced he would retire at the end of the year.
7-14-1997 -- Wright State women's basketball coach Terry Hall died of ovarian cancer. Hall, 52, was coach at WSU from 1990 to 1997.
7-15-1997 -- Fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot to death in front of his oceanfront villa in Miami Beach, Florida. The primary suspect was identified as Andrew Cunanan, who was already on the FBI's most wanted list in connection with four other murders.
7-20-1997 -- Tim Gaffney and Ty Greenlees, from the Dayton Daily News staff, set off on a two-week flight around the country. Dispatches from the Spirit of Flight project can be found on the Internet at http://www.aopa.org/special/dayton-flight
7-23-1997 -- Andrew Cunanan was found dead in a houseboat in Miami Beach. Investigators said Cunanan -- the subject of an intense manhunt following the July 15 murder of Gianni Versace -- apparently committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.
7-25-1997 -- The Cincinnati Reds General Manager Jim Bowden fired manager Ray Knight for the teams continued poor porformance. Knight, who was 99 games into his second tumultuous season with the Reds, was replaced for the remainder of the season with Jack McKeon, a senior adviser on the Reds staff and a three-time major league manager.
7-25-1997 -- Verdicts came in on two celebrity court cases. Actor Carroll O'Connor was cleared of slander in a lawsuit brought by Harry Perzigian, who had supplied cocaine to O'Connor's son Hugh. After Hugh O'Connor's suicide his father called Perzigian a "partner in murder" for providing his son with drugs. On the same day, a jury convicted Autumn Jackson of extortion for demanding $40 million from actor Bill Cosby. Jackson, who claims to be Cosby's illegitimate daughter, had threatened to take her story to the tabloid newspapers.
Watson |
7-27-1997 -- An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper was shot when she stopped along Interstate 70 in Preble County to question a man walking along the highway. Officer Angela R. Watson, 26, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was not seriously injured. She exchanged fire with the man, identified as George M. Snyder of Akron, and he was killed, though a medical examination later determined he was killed with his own weapon.
7-30-1997 -- Thirteen Israelis were killed by suicide bombers in a Jerusalem market.
7-31-1997 -- Former Ohio House Speaker Vern Riffe Jr. died of cancer at 72. He served in the House for 36 years, including 20 as speaker.
August 1997
8-3-1997 -- The Ohio General Assembly failed to agree on a school funding plan to put before voters in the fall election. The Legislature had rejected a proposal by Gov. George Voinovich, but then failed to agree on one of its own.
8-3-1997 -- Workers at United Parcel Service went on strike for the first time in the company's history. Talks between the company and the Teamsters union broke down over issues including part-time work and control of the pension fund.
8-6-1997 -- Apple Computer announced a reorganization plan to save the struggling company. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs announced that long-time rival Microsoft will invest $150 million in Apple.
8-7-1997 -- Mead Corp announced that CEO Steven C. Mason will step down Nov. 1 and hand the reins to Mead President Jerome F. Tatar.
8-7-1997 -- Officials at Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. unveiled a reorganization plan that could make it an independent, publicly-traded company by year's end. Under the plan the heirs of company founder Arthur Beerman would retain ownership of 5-10 percent of the company. Elder-Beerman filed for bankruptcy protection in 1995.
8-8-1997 -- The Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline authorized ethics complaints against State Rep. Marilyn Reid and her former husband, Greene County Common Please Judge M. David Reid. The charges, which could result in disbarment, relate to the Reid's professional conduct in connection with their business and real estate investments, which were the focus of a Dayton Daily News investigative report in December 1996.
8-9-1997 -- The body of real estate agent Jaimie D. Harner was found in the garage of a home she had listed for sale. Harner, 28, had been missing for several days.
8-12-1997 -- Piqua teenager Richard Shannon was killed in an accidental shooting. Shannon, 15, was reportedly shot by another boy as they played with a rifle owned by the second boy's father.
8-14-1997 -- Several New York City police officers were reassigned or put on desk duty as city officials intensified their investigation into charges that NYPD officers sodomized a man with the handle of a toilet plunger.
8-18-1997 -- The Teamsters union and United Parcel Service reached a tentative agreement to end a 15-day strike.
8-20-1997 -- Montgomery County Sheriff's deputies found a woman tied to a bed in the basement of a Harrison Township home when they responded to a burglar alarm. The woman told them she had been held captive for a month and had been repeatedly raped. A suspect, Kevin Caes, was arrested later that day when he returned to the home, and drove away at high speed. Deputies pursued him and arrested him after a chase.
8-21-1997 -- Hudson Foods agreed to recall all ground beef processed at its Columbus, Nebraska plant after a deadly strain of E. coli bacteria was found in hamburger.
8-21-1997 -- Riverside City Manager Stephen Hughes resigned under pressure from the city council, which intended to fire him. Supporters rallied around Hughes and vowed to campaign for the defeat of the council members at this year's election.
8-22-1997 -- Christopher Bacher, 26, was shot and killed by Dayton police officer Rick J. Smith after Smith responded to a burglary call at the home of Bacher's mother.
8-22-1997 -- Kettering schools superintendent Stephen Scovic said the school board might rescind a tax abatement previously granted to General Motors for a planned $355 million expansion at the Moraine truck assembly plant. Scovic said GM led the board to believe that the Dayton area was competing with other cities for the project, but that in fact GM was not considering other sites.
8-26-1997 -- Dayton police officials revealed that Christopher Bacher was unarmed when he was shot by police officer Rick J. Smith on Aug. 22. Police said Bacher had a knife moments earlier but did not have it when he emerged from the house and lunged at Smith.
8-26-1997 -- The Kettering-Moraine School Board voted to maintain the tax abatement for the General Motors expansion in Moraine.
Princess Diana |
8-29-1997 -- Former Wright State tennis coach Wyatt Bumgardner was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping in the shooting death of Donna Clifton. Bumbardner had been convicted in 1993, but won a new trial on appeal.
8-31-1997 -- Princess Diana was fatally injured in a high-speed automobile accident in Paris. Diana, 36, and companion Dodi Fayed were in the back seat of a Mercedes driven by Fayed's chauffeur. The car was being pursued by "paparazzi" photographers on motorcycles.
September 1997
9-1-1997 -- Cox Interactive Media launched its new website, ActiveDayton (www.activedayton.com). The site's content is focused on sports and recreation in the Miami Valley, but also includes current news from CIM partners, the Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun and WHIO-TV. The site also includes archives from the Dayton Daily News Library.
9-2-1997 -- Dayton Daily News sports writer Leal Beattie died at 49. Beattie, who had worked for Dayton newspapers for 25 years and had a national reputation for his coverage of auto racing.
9-3-1997 -- Arizona Gov. Fife Symington resigned from office after being convicted on seven counts of filing false financial information to banks.
9-5-1997 -- Mother Teresa died at 87. The Roman Catholic nun, who devoted her life to India's poorest, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
9-6-1997 -- Skeletal remains of two children were found near a Champaign County cemetery about seven miles from the Urbana home where India and Cody Smith disappeared on July 9. Investigators could not make a positive identification of the bodies because of decomposition.
9-15-1997 -- Former Mass. Gov. William Weld withdrew his name from consideration for the ambassadorship to Mexico. Weld had been nominated by President Clinton but faced unwavering opposition from Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jesse Helms.
9-16-1997 -- Blanchester Police Chief Richard R. Payton was indicted on felony counts of obstruction of justice. He is accused of warning murder suspect Vincent Doan of his impending arrest.
9-17-1997 -- Commedian Red Skelton died at 84.
9-19-1997 -- The Dayton Civil Service Board ordered fired Dayton police Lt. David A. Sherrer reinstated, finding that the city failed to prove that he lied about his involvement in a July 1996 arrest. Dayton Police Chief Ron Lowe had fired Sherrer April 28, 1997.
9-19-1997 -- Cincinnati Reds manager Jack McKean, who had been filling the post on an interim basis since the firing of Ray Knight, was granted a one-year contract.
9-21-1997 -- The Dayton Daily News launched its new Sunday Business section.
9-24-1997 -- In Arkansas Chevie Kehoe was charged with murder in the 1996 murders of an Arkansas gun dealer and his family.
9-24-1997 -- Kettering city officials said ITT Automotive plans to move 150 jobs from its Kettering operations to Michigan.
9-25-1997 -- Well-known NBC sportscaster Marv Albert pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault charges to end a sexual assault trial which seemed likely to bring out lurid details of Albert's sex life. NBC fired Albert shortly after he entered his plea.
9-26-1997 -- A Montgomery County grand jury found justifiable self-defense in the case of Dayton Police Officer Rick J. Smith, who on Aug. 22 fatally shot suspect Christopher Bacher.
