DATE: Saturday, April 12, 1997              TAG: 9704120382

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   44 lines

CHESAPEAKE MAYOR RETURNS FROM VISIT TO JERUSALEM TODAY

Mayor William E. Ward is due back from the Holy Land today, a trip to Jerusalem that wasn't formally announced by the city until Friday morning, almost a week after Ward had left.

The mystery was purposeful. City officials said Friday that Ward wanted his trip - part of a mayors conference - kept secret until Thursday to protect his family, namely his wife, Rose, while he was away.

City clerk Dolores A. Moore said Ward requested that his trip be made public only after his return.

At last week's council meeting, Ward was excused by Vice Mayor John Butt as simply being ``out of town.'' No formal announcement about Ward's trip was made until Friday, a day before he was due back.

City spokesman Mark Cox said Friday that his office was told of the trip on Thursday by the mayor's office. Until then, Cox said, he didn't know about it.

The trip to Israel was paid for by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. In a press release dated April 1, Ward was listed as one of 11 U.S. mayors journeying to Israel for the 17th annual Jerusalem Conference of Mayors, which took place April 6-12.

``The conference will focus on how cities build on the past and on their history as they institute changes to prepare for the future,'' the press release said.

The trip was hosted by the mayor of Jerusalem and sponsored in part by the American Jewish Conference and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Ward was scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Ezer Weizman and to travel throughout modern Jerusalem and the Old City. The group was also scheduled to travel to Northern Israel to visit ``an innovative and entrepreneurial center,'' according to the press release.

Mayors from Greensboro, N.C., Boise, Idaho, Springfield, Ill., Wichita, Kan., Charlotte, N.C., and Hartford, Conn., also attended the conference.

Greensboro Mayor Carolyn Allen didn't formally announce her trip to Israel either. But according to city officials in Greensboro, anyone who asked was told.

``There's no secrets here,'' said the mayor's assistant. ILLUSTRATION: Mayor William E. Ward chose not to announce his trip,

which was part of a mayor's conference, for his family's safety.

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