By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 25, 1999; Page C01

Anti-NATO balloons were black, and brides
wore white. On a springtime Saturday that
was hardly normal by any standard, NATO
leaders debated strategy, protesters chanted
"Slo-bo! Slo-bo!" and wedding couples still
made it to church on time.

The second day of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's grand gathering slipped by
without surprise, unless you count the tourists
who could make little sense of a lofty
international event that unfolded beyond
public view.

Thousands of pro-Serbian demonstrators
rallied in Lafayette Square, shouting slogans
against NATO, praising leader Slobodan
Milosevic and warning of a new Vietnam.
Under watchful police eyes, they chanted and
marched -- one group carried a black coffin
scrawled with NATO names -- and peaceably
disbanded.

By evening, the leaders of the Atlantic
alliance and 23 partner countries were dining
at the White House while D.C. Mayor
Anthony A. Williams (D) was hosting 1,900
well-heeled guests at the National Building
Museum. The District staged an elegant
party, but officials, sobered by the misery of
war in the Balkans, were ordered to call it
anything but.

As guests were wined and dined, a Latin
band played salsa and an African American
youth choir sang jazzy, upbeat songs.
Williams spoke of the District's resurgence.
Like NATO, he said, "the D.C. community is
joined in a partnership to show that
democracy works . . . and to move the city
forward."

D.C. police checked out suspicious packages,
found no bombs and saw no reason to
activate contingency plans for mass arrests.
With mere hours to go until today's end to the
three-day conference, Cmdr. Michael
Radzilowski was feeling fine.

"The district commanders are reporting lower
crime rates in the districts," said Radzilowski,
chief of the special operations branch. "Out
here, the escorts are going well, traffic is
under control, and the demonstrations have
been peaceful. I can't complain. My officers
just need some rest."

Apart from the motorcades, the protesters
and the occasional police snipers deployed on
rooftops, Washington's largest gathering ever
of presidents and prime ministers was
virtually nowhere to be seen. For many, the
event expressed itself as a matter of absence
-- of crowds, of access to the White House,
of hoopla.

"I would have liked to see more of an
outward appearance of NATO," said Michael
Spandorfer, 33, from Charleston, S.C. "I don't
see any balloons, do you?"

Tourists said they girded for hassle, and
found none.

"We got up at 5:30 this morning," said Mary
Hill, 40, the chaperon of a high school band
from North Carolina. Fearing heavy traffic,
the group allowed three hours to reach
downtown Washington from a spot near
Dulles International Airport.

The band might as well have been riding the
jet stream. They made it downtown by 7:15
a.m., with nothing to do before the
Smithsonian museums opened at 10 o'clock.
They went to Ford's Theatre for a tour they
had planned take today. Grateful for a silver
lining, they will sleep in today.

Other travelers confessed to being blindsided
by the whole NATO shebang.

"To be honest, I heard about it today," said
Scott Biedenkapp, 23, a visiting Baltimore
college student. "Finals are coming up."

And what about all those people who steered
clear of Washington on Friday, turning
downtown into a ghost town? A startling
number of them went to Mount Vernon.
Forty bus loads of tourists descended on
George Washington's home a half-hour after
it opened, said spokeswoman Sally
McDonough. In all, 10,300 people visited,
compared with 6,000 on a typical April
weekday.

On the wedding front, the sense of crisis
ebbed and Michele Petrillo and Matt Benson
got hitched on schedule at the Hotel
Washington, a garter's throw from summit
headquarters at the Ronald Reagan Building.
Panicked that their ceremony for 150 people
might be a summit casualty, the couple
received help from Radzilowski, who had
read of their worries.

The flowers arrived, as did the five key lime
pies being served in place of cake. But the
band, Full Circle, reached the hotel at the
same time as the French delegation to NATO
-- and the French won. Band members hauled
dozens of instruments and amplifiers along a
sidewalk to the hotel.

Next door at the Willard Hotel, a wedding
reception for Linda Vandaele also went
smoothly. When she learned of the potential
clash of matrimony and diplomacy, Vandaele
hired buses to ferry 75 guests from
Washington National Cathedral to the
Willard reception.

Early yesterday evening, District police
reported a shooting unrelated to the summit.
But for much of the day, police scanners
were peppered with mundane chatter as
officers did little more than keep track of
protesters and each other. Many a tow truck
was called to remove illegally parked cars.

"Can any unit advise me of where Ford's
Theatre is located?" one officer radioed a
dispatcher. Another asked, "Can anyone
advise where the press center is located?"

Officers tracked down a man who appeared
"agitated" and mentioned something about
the White House before he headed toward
Lafayette Square. Another man drew
officers' attention by carrying a
three-foot-long cardboard tube.

Inside the Reagan Building, off-limits to
anyone without a special pass, plenty of
business was being done, and not all of it
concerned force projection. A yellow and
blue sign in the central food court advised
delegates and reporters, "All American
Donuts Welcomes NATO. Enjoy America's
favorite breakfast treat -- DONUTS."

Occupying prime real estate on a busy
corridor was a booth that targeted the
summiteers' sartorial tastes. Business looked
lively, although the prices weren't cheap. Ball
caps with the summit logo cost $18, polo
shirts were $35 and outdoor jackets were
$95.

Twelve dollars could buy a white T-shirt
painted with scenes of the Berlin Wall, once
a gray barrier to East German liberty, now
morphed into a colorful, traveling symbol of
the post-Cold War world. Sales clerk Ruth
Riddick pointed to the shirts and said
cheerfully, "That's an exact picture of it. We
have part of it upstairs. It's beautiful."

Bombs are falling, missiles are hitting their
marks and the war is going exceedingly well,
alliance spokesman Jamie Shea reported in
unfailingly polite tones yesterday in the daily
NATO briefing, moved from Brussels to the
Reagan building amphitheater for the
duration of the summit. He reported
"continued success" in the air campaign.

Shea wages NATO's media offensive anew
each morning with a presentation that
includes photographs and cockpit videos of
exploding targets. Addressing scores of
journalists, he said yesterday that NATO
crews, attempting to deny fuel to the
Serbian-led war machine, may soon "visit and
search" oil cargo ships.

This prompted a British reporter to say, "This
very strange formulation, 'visit and search.' It
almost sounds as if you can have a cup of
tea."

Shea, who answers in English and French,
sometimes exercises the wartime prerogative
of rhetorical excess, injecting enough
flourishes to warm the cold heart of a
London tabloid editor. He spoke Friday of a
"ring of steel" protecting Macedonia. He
declared that NATO would "take the fight
directly to Milosevic's forces." He said, "We
know what Milosevic is up to, and we're not
going to let him get away with it."

Yet verbal grist is as good as gold dust for the
news-hungry hordes, particularly when so
much presumed activity is occurring out of
sight. Yesterday, many reporters sat for long
stretches of time in the sun, drinking free
coffee or pay-by-the-drink booze, waiting for
news, any kind of news.

Over at the Madison Hotel, Turkish
diplomats and reporters were aflutter about a
front-page faux pas in the New York Times.
Beneath a color photograph of NATO
leaders, the caption mistakenly identified
Turkey's President Suleyman Demirel as
Prime Minister Costas Simitis of Greece.

With more than 40 visiting politicians to
choose from, Turks were wondering how the
leader of Greece, a country with which
Turkey often seems on the brink of war,
could be confused with Demirel. Someone,
alas, had to bring the mistake to Demirel's
attention.

The Turkish leader, sources said, was not
amused.

Contributing to The Post's coverage of the
NATO summit were staff writers Michael H.
Cottman, Alicia Cypress, Maria Elena
Fernandez, John W. Fountain, Steven Gray,
Hamil R. Harris, Allan Lengel, Eric Lipton,
Bill Miller, Brian Mooar, Sylvia Moreno,
Caryle Murphy, Philip P. Pan, Alice Reid,
Michael E. Ruane, Katherine Shaver, Valerie
Strauss, Cheryl W. Thompson and Linda
Wheeler.

Downtown Areas Affected by NATO Summit

The map below shows which streets are
closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic
until midnight for the 50th anniversary
NATO summit. The map also locates hotels
where NATO delegations are staying.
Travelers should expect heavy traffic
congestion in and around these areas and
parking restrictions.

Streets closed today:

The following streets are open to pedestrians
but closed to vehicles:

* Pennsylvania Avenue NW, between Ninth
and 13th streets on the north.

* Pennsylvania Avenue NW, between Ninth
and 12th streets on the south.

* 15th Street NW between Independence and
New York avenues.

* Madison Drive NW between Seventh and
15th streets.

* Vehicles are not allowed south of E Street
NW between 10th and 14th streets. Those
with business between 10th and 14th streets
NW from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue
are allowed access.

Other transportation concerns:

* The Federal Triangle Metro stop will be
closed.

* Metrorail will be operating at 6 a.m. today
and will operate longer trains as needed.

* The following bus routes will be affected
by the NATO summit today: 13A, 13B, 13F,
13G, 32, 34, 35, 52, 54, 62,64,A11, A42,
A46, A48, J13, S2, S4, V8.

* For further information: Contact Metro at
202-637-7000 (TDD 202-962-3780) from 8
a.m. to 10:30 p.m. To have a timetable faxed
to you, call 202-962-1420. Visit Metro's Web
site at www.wmata.com

Useful numbers and Web sites:

* For updates on road closures and traffic
conditions throughout the summit, contact
the Emergency Management Agency, 24
hours a day, 202-832-4357.

* For further information about the NATO
summit, check the NATO Web site:
www.nato50.gov, maintained by the U.S.
Information Agency.

SOURCE: The Secret Service