CITY TO VOTE ON JUAREZ VIOLENCE MEASURE MINUS DRUG DEBATE

What Do You Think?

EL PASO -- City Council on Tuesday will once again vote on a
resolution condemning the violence that has led to the killings of
more than 1,600 people in Juarez, but this time, no debate on the
legalization of drugs will be discussed.

Earlier this month, the council received national attention when
South-West city Rep. Beto O'Rourke amended the Juarez resolution to
include language that asked the federal government to debate the
merits of decriminalizing narcotics.

His amendment was backed unanimously but was vetoed by Mayor John
Cook. After receiving letters and calls from U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes
and the El Paso delegation to the Texas Legislature urging the council
to back Cook or risk losing federal and state money, the council
decided not to overturn the veto.

O'Rourke, who was openly critical of Reyes, said he doesn't plan on
including any amendments when the resolution comes up for vote this
time.

"It's important for the city of El Paso to be on the record as
condemning the violence that has caused so much grief in our sister
city of Ciudad Juarez," he said.

O'Rourke added, "But I think it's still important to have the type of
conversations that will truly address the drug issues along the border
E even if they make the established leadership uncomfortable."

The resolution, which was drafted by the Border Relations Quantcast
Committee, outlines several steps the federal and Mexican governments should
take in order to help ease the drug-related violence that has plagued the
border for more than a year.

Some of the recommendations include better U.S. funding of
crime-prevention programs for the Mexican law-enforcement agencies and
the increased presence of Mexican troops in the state of Chihuahua.

Members of the committee, which issued a statement of support when
O'Rourke made the controversial amendment, said Tuesday that it is
important for the city to ratify the resolution, even without the amendment.

"The committee feels that a resolution needs to be passed because of
the severity of the situation within our border community" chairman
Jose Contreras said in a prepared statement. "Thus, the committee will
ask the city council of El Paso to approve the E as it was originally
proposed to the city council."

Others in El Paso, including some who said they didn't approve of the
amendment O'Rourke had included in the original resolution, said they
are happy to see the issue back on the agenda.

"This is not the time to legalize drugs," said Eastsider Jorge Ortiz,
who has family across the border. "It's time to fix Juarez before it's
too late."