GENERAL MOTORS CORP. General Motors Corp. was a newsmaker all year as it laid plans for a major expansion of its Moraine truck plant, moved toward a possible deal to turn its engine plant over to Isuzu and prepared to spin off its Delphi parts division.

   Privatization hit Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. General Motors said it will spend millions in Moraine. Merger mania gripped Miami Valley companies large and small. And some venerable chief executives called it quits.
   Area companies generated a landslide of news in 1997.
   The shrinking military establishment continued to trigger reorganizations and cutbacks at Wright-Pat, Ohio's biggest single-site employer with about 22,000 civilian and military workers. But defense conversion efforts continued showing positive results at Gentile Station in Kettering and the Mound Plant in Miamisburg.
   General Motors Corp. was a newsmaker all year as it laid plans for a major expansion of its Moraine truck plant, moved quietly toward a possible deal to turn its engine plant over to Isuzu and prepared to spin off its giant Delphi parts division.
   Elder-Beerman Department Stores' struggle to recover from bankruptcy at times looked more like a tug-of-war between the Beerman family, which wanted to keep control of the retail chain, and creditors that wanted to sell off its assets to other chains.
  

January
   The old Gentile Air Force Depot, once the home of the Defense Electronics Supply Center, officially closed at the end of 1996 and greeted the new year as the Kettering Business Park. In the ensuing months, Kettering transformed the drab, concrete military depot into a landscaped site, its cavernous warehouses mostly hidden behind modern facades. Government and commercial tenants moved 1,800 jobs to the site and filled more 60 percent of its 1.5 million square feet of indoor space. More than 200 government and business leaders officially opened the park in November.
   Gayston Corp., a Springboro company that makes automobile air bag parts and weapons components, was fined more than $1 million in January after federal prosecutors charged the company with conspiracy to rig bids for weapons parts and money laundering. Three individuals received prison sentences.
  
February
   General Motors Corp. officials confirmed for the first time that four of their Dayton-area plants were losing money and would be sold or shut down if company and union officials couldn't agree on a plan to make the plants profitable. J.T. Battenberg III, president of Delphi Automotive Systems, GM's large parts division, said two Dayton brake plants and two other Delphi Chassis plants in Kettering were in trouble because of financial losses and tough competition. Local union leaders were finally able to reach agreements with the world's largest automaker this past summer, but the plants were not expected to show a profit for 1997. Job security and plant closing rumors plagued GM's local work force for most of this year.
  
March
   For the first time, General Motors Corp. reported separate financial results for Delphi Automotive Systems, making its parts supplier division look more than ever like a separate company. Additional moves followed throughout the year, including plans to sell 20 percent of the division to public stockholders in 1998. GM's actions increased pressure on Delphi's Dayton operations to be profitable or face cuts. Delphi, the world's largest maker of auto parts, operates six plants in the Dayton area with about 14,000 hourly workers.
  
April
   A sharp drop in first quarter profits prompted Electronic Data Systems Corp. in April to launch a major job review that could eliminate 9,000 of the Texas-based company's 100,000 positions. The computer services company employs 1,200 in the Dayton area.
  

LEE SCHEAR Lee Schear, the former Dayton grocer who founded SuperPetz six years ago, resigned as president of the fast-growing pet supplies chain. Schear, 45, lost his Schear's Metro Markets chain in December 1996 after defaulting on loans.

May
   Wright-Patterson Air Force Base officials in May cut the ribbon on a new supercomputer center which they said would change the way researchers invent weapons and bolster Wright-Pat's role as a major military research center. The so-called Major Shared Resource Center is one of four that form the hubs of a new nationwide military supercomputer network. Community leaders said the new center will also help draw top research talent to the area.
   Lee Schear, the former Dayton grocer who founded SuperPetz six years ago, resigned as president of the fast-growing pet supplies chain. It was the second dose of negative news for Schear, 45, who lost his Schear's Metro Markets chain in December 1996 after defaulting on loans.
  

In June, Second and Main Ltd., a group of 20 corporations that bought the vacant Lazarus store in July 1995, decided to consider redeveloping the block into apartments after a $113 million hotel-office tower-performing arts center drew little interest.

June
   Second and Main Ltd., a group of 20 corporations that bought the vacant Lazarus store in July 1995, decided to consider redeveloping the block into apartments after a $113 million hotel-office tower-performing arts center drew little interest. But by year end nothing much had happened. Still, Second and Main officials remained optimistic.
   NCR Corp. made headlines throughout the year, but not always with good news. The company continued posting losses, causing analysts to trim their first-half estimates in June. In August, health authorities learned a contract worker had exposed NCR's headquarters staff to tuberculosis, forcing a massive screening that turned up 26 positive exposures - but no active TB cases - among 283 employees. In October, the company announced its second work force shake-up in three years with plans to cut 1,000 jobs from its worldwide work force of 38,500. In December it ended its long manufacturing heritage with a $100 million deal to have California-based Solectron Corp. build its cash registers and computers. The sale freed NCR from a low-margin arena to focus on software development, a move that pleased analysts.
  
July
   The National Center for Composite Systems Technology got a big boost in July when the Air Force's Wright Laboratory awarded it a $7.2 million contract to test low-cost manufacturing methods for aircraft parts. The center is a local initiative aimed at using Wright Lab technology to create manufacturing jobs. It was already setting up to test a new method for mass-producing vehicle structures from glass fibers and plastic resin. Another breakthrough in composite technology came in July when Butler County, working with Wright Lab, installed Ohio's first all-composite, glass fiber highway bridge.
  

Economy the story of the year Published: Sunday, December 28, 1997 By JIM DILLON   It's the evening before Christmas Eve. The daily business page has been edited and put to bed. I've got A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio playing on my office Macintosh, filling my ears with smooth holiday jazz. All my colleagues have gone home and the place is quiet. Now is the proper time to review 1997 and pick its most remarkable stories and newsmakers. Story of the year: The booming economy. As we reported Dec. 17 under the headline "It's the best of times," the local and national economies have performed exceptionally well this year. Housing starts are up. Mortgage rates are low. Inflation is down. Unemployment levels are at record lows. Crime is down, too. It seems nearly everyone benefited. I don't see how the economy can get much better. Still, I know this won't last forever. The Asian crisis continues to fester and there are signs that retail sales are softening.    Newsmaker of the year (company): This is a tough one. It's a difficult choice between Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., which generated a ton of news this year as the Moraine-based retailer prepares to emerge from two years of bankruptcy, and General Motors Corp., whose local plants and employees were the focus of numerous stories. But there can't be two winners, so the edge goes to GM because its operations affect more people than those of Elder-Beerman. Still, we will watch both closely in 1998. Elder-Beerman will be a publicly traded company again, and GM will surely make some crucial decisions about several plants here. Newsmaker of the year (individual): Mershad Fred Mershad, president and chief executive of Elder-Beerman. A quick check of our electronic library shows that Mershad's name appeared in at least 31 stories since he was name to his current posts in January. That's a lot of ink. Sure, his name was bound to appear a lot in print as he helped steer the retailer through the final stages of bankruptcy. Still, I'm hard-pressed to find another individual who played a larger public role in a major ongoing story. Who-da-thunk-it story of the year: The battle for International Union of Electronic Workers Local 801. Dayton is a big union town, so we're used to writing stories about strife between union and management. But the struggle between Local 801's president George Dunaway and the union's international leaders for control of Dayton's largest union local (8,000 members) came straight out of the blue. No one would have anticipated such a story in this day and age. The dispute will come to a head in U.S. District Court soon.    A close second: The overthrow of Wes Wells as president of IUE Local 775. Trend of the year: Mergers and acquisitions. By my count, at least a dozen Miami Valley companies either acquired other companies this year or were gobbled up by bigger fish. It was eat or be eaten. The deals involving locally based companies ranged from Standard Register Co.'s $245 million purchase of Uarco of Japan to several itty-bitty deals by the likes of small but fast-growing Miami Computer Supply and Dayton Superior. Economists say we can expect more mergers and acquisitions if the economy keeps chugging along.    A close second: Consolidation and privatization at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a major employer with about 22,000 civilian and military workers. My gut tells me 1998 will be a memorable year for Wright-Pat.

August
   Babcock & Wilcox of Lynchburg, Va., replaced Boston, Mass.-based EG&G as the Energy Department's contractor for the Mound Plant. The contract was valued at $425 million during the next five years. The company's mission is to finish cleaning up the former nuclear weapons plant and make the site ready for transition to commercial use. Miamisburg has been working with the Energy Department and state and local agencies to redevelop the 306-acre site into a high-tech industrial park named the Mound Advanced Technology Center.
   Word leaked that GM was considering a major expansion of its truck assembly plant in Moraine. Insiders said the expansion would exceed $355 million and might ultimately total close to $800 million. The Kettering-Moraine school board approved a $6 million tax break, after members wrested an apology from the automaker for allowing the board to believe the expansion might go elsewhere without the break. GM didn't officially announce the expansion until December.
  
September
   The Salem Mall felt the first blow of a one-two punch when the J.C. Penney department store chain announced it would close its Salem Mall store at the end of 1997. The retailer had experienced major sales declines. The second blow came in December when Lazarus officials announced they would close their Salem Mall store after the Christmas shopping season. That would leave only Sears as a major retailer in the mall.
   The Air Force made the first flight test of its F-22 advanced Stealth fighter at its Lockheed Martin Corp. assembly plant in Marietta, Ga. The flight marked the culmination of years of work by hundreds of program office workers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Major features include Stealth and supersonic cruise.
   Spectra-Physics Laserplane of Huber Heights was merged with three other companies to make Spectra Precision. The new company, headed by former Spectra-Physics President Steve Berglund, has 1,300 employees, with 600 in the Dayton area. Spectra Physics makes laser and sonic-based leveling, aligning and grade-control systems for construction.
   New York computer hardware distributor Global DirectMail Corp. bought Infotel Inc. of Fletcher for $48.3 million. The acquisition was expected to add jobs at the Fletcher plant. Infotel and its catalog business, MidWest Micro, were to keep their names under the deal. Infotel, with about 480 employees, makes build-to-order personal computers.
  
October
   Dayton opened a 36-acre business park at Webster Street and Stanley Avenue with plans for a 40,000-square-foot U.S. Postal Service sorting center and several commercial tenants.
   Wright-Patterson Air Force Base officials selected two contractors to take over support functions of the 88th Air Base Wing and the Wright Research Site, formerly Wright Laboratory, replacing nearly 500 military and civilian Air Force workers. The contracts went to Raytheon Support Services, a unit of Burlington, Mass.-based Raytheon Co., and AdTech Systems Research Inc., a private Beavercreek company. Their combined bid of $44.8 million promised nearly $7 million in savings.
   The Air Force opened the Air Force Research Laboratory headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, consolidating the administration of the Air Force's four major laboratories. The new lab also consolidated 22 major branches, known as directorates, into nine, with five at Wright-Pat. The change was part of the Air Force's effort to cope with tighter budgets and a shrinking work force.
   Steven C. Mason retired as chairman and chief executive officer of Dayton-based Mead Corp., Dayton's sole remaining Fortune 500 company. Mason spent more than 40 years with the forest products company, including the last five as chairman and chief executive officer. He was succeeded by Jerome F. Tatar.
  
November
   Hourly workers at General Motors Corp.'s Moraine Engine plant approved a new local agreement that sets the stage for Isuzu Motors Ltd. to assume control of the factory. The agreement implements a three-tier wage scale for the plants 530 hourly workers and gives the plant an advantage in attracting new work for Isuzu or other automakers, officials said.
   A rift erupted between international leaders and some local officers of the International Union of Electronic Workers Local 801. The national leaders ousted local president George Dunaway after disagreements over some local officials. The displaced officers went to U.S. District Court in December, seeking an injunction to restore their power. The union represents about 8,000 hourly workers at three Dayton area GM plants. Elsewhere, labor talks yielded contracts with more job security for workers in several of GM's local Delphi plants in 1997.
   Drugstore wars expanded as chains Revco and Rite Aid added more local stores and Walgreens prepared to enter the market with four stores. Local independent drugstore owners felt added pressure from the giant chains.
   Kenneth W. Fletcher, who co-founded West Carrollton-based Roberds Inc. in 1971 and guided it to a 25-store chain with $342 million in annual sales, resigned unexpectedly as president and chief executive after more than a year of disappointing sales and sagging stock prices. Fletcher, 65, said he was ready to retire after 26 years.
   Lexis-Nexis President and Chief Executive Ira T. Siegel, 53, left his job abruptly just weeks after announcing a reorganization plan aimed at keeping the online database company ahead of Internet competitors.
   After quietly fighting a potential takeover for more than a year, Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. won a major victory that would let the retailer emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy free of hostile threats. The agreement prevents Carson Pirie Scott and Proffitt's from attempting a takeover of the Moraine-based chain at least until Jan. 31, 1999. In December, a bankruptcy judge approved Elder-Beerman's reorganization schedule.
   Cleveland-based TRW Inc. announced it will buy McLean, Va.-based BDM International for nearly $1 billion, including a local BDM operation that employs about 250 people. Most of BDM's work focuses on Wright-Pat and other federal work, although is also has a $27.5 million contract with Dayton Public Schools to upgrade and manage computers and software.
  
December
   Standard Register Co., the Dayton-based maker of business forms and electronic documents, agreed to buy Uarco Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Settsu Corp. of Osaka, Japan, by the end of the year for $245 million. Standard Register President and Chief Executive Peter S. Redding said the acquisition will result in some initial downsizing at both companies to eliminate duplicate jobs. But, he said, he expects the number of Dayton-based jobs to go up. About 900 of Standard Register's 6,400 workers are based in Dayton.
   Dayton-based Price Brothers Co., whose British subsidiary has provided supplies for Libya's Great Man-Made River Project, came under fire when published reports suggested the pipeline is instead becoming a secretive, underground military network to conceal Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's activities from American spy satellites. Price Brothers officials say its U.S. operations haven't had any involvement with the project in 10 years.
   Cleveland-based National City Corp. announced it will buy First of America Bank Corp. for about $7.1 billion in stock. The merger will make it the country's 13th largest bank, with $74.4 billion in assets.
   Richard L. Molen decided to end 30 years with Miamisburg-based Huffy Corp. when he retired as chairman and chief executive officer of the world's largest bicycle maker. Succeeding Molen is Don R. Graber, president and chief operating officer, who was hired 18 months ago as Molen's successor.