DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1997, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Friday, August 1, 1997                TAG: 9708010026EDITION: CITY VERNAL G. RIFFE JR. - 1925-1997 THE END OF A POLITICAL ERASECTION:                                            PAGE: 8A TYPE: SIDEBAR                              VERNAL G. RIFFE JR.    *   Born: June 26, 1925.      *   Died:  July 31, 1997      *   Party: Democratic.      *   Home: New Boston.      *   Family:  Widow, Thelma; children, Cathy, Verna, Mary Beth and VernRiffe III.      *   Private profession:  Owned an insurance agency in New Boston;maintained a consulting business in Columbus.   Legislative career:   *    Elected to the House in 1958; served 36 years.      *  Became speaker in 1975, after engineering a coup to oust a former ally,A.G. Lancione.      *  Served as speaker a record 20 years, becoming one of the state's mostpowerful politicians, having virtual signoff on major legislation. Workingwith state Rep. C.J. McLin, he pushed to create the minority set-aside programand increased funding for Central State University. Also pushed through thecreation of Shawnee State University in Portsmouth.      *  Retired in December 1994      *  Pleaded guilty July 2, 1996, to misdemeanor charges of failing to reporton state financial forms the interest income from an inheritance. The chargearose from an investigation that he also did not report speaking fees of$4,500. Despite the plea, he maintained he did nothing wrong.LENGTH:   47 linesILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:          Vernal Riffe Jr. is sworn in as Speaker of the House on Jan. 1,          1975.          PHOTO CREDIT:  ASSOCIATED PRESS ENHANCER: ref8