CIUDAD JUAREZ DEMANDS THE EL PASO TIMES' ATTENTION

As a newsroom, we've been spending a bit more time in Ciudad Juarez,
trying to widen our perspective on the ongoing drug war that is
paralyzing El Paso's twin city.

Two of our journalists worked a 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift in Juarez one
day last week, and they came back struck by the emptiness of the city
once darkness hit.

They saw little evidence of any nightlife after 9 p.m.; bewildering,
because they've known Juarez to have a vibrant after-hours scene.

Not anymore, and you have to start to wonder if Juarez will ever be
that way again.

If you talk to people who would likely have the best perspective on
what's happening in Juarez -- business leaders and law enforcement on
both sides of the border, and everyday residents of Juarez -- and if
you talk to them casually, conversationally and confidentially, you
will hear them all say pretty much the same thing: Juarez is at a
point of desperation with no end in sight and no solutions at hand to
stop the drug-cartel war that has claimed some 4,000 lives in two years.

Our reporting is trying to examine that by being in Juarez and by
talking, as I described, with people who would have the best feel for
what's going on.

Over the next several weeks and into 2010, we will continue to publish
stories on what's happening in Juarez.

The story deserves the newsroom's utmost attention because it's a
story that impacts El Paso at the school level, impacts El Paso and
its economic-development efforts, and impacts El Paso because of deep
family ties.

As we move along we also want to highlight individuals in Juarez who
are doing heroic things in the face of violence and great danger. We
know there are people working to make lives better in Juarez, and we
need to bring more attention to them to help shine some hopeful light
on an increasingly dark situation.

The saddest aspect of the violence in Juarez is its effect on
children.

Some cowards the other day even murdered a 7-year-old boy, shooting
him in the back as he fled after seeing his dad gunned down.

In another unconscionable act, two teenage girls, one 15 and one 14,
were murdered and then set on fire.

These violent acts should never be tolerated in any city in the world,
and yet they're happening here in our own back yard.

As a news organization, we will commit to continuing to bring
awareness to all of these issues and storylines. We can have an impact
through our journalism.

We can create national and global awareness of the violence and help
build a public campaign that can resolve the problems before Ciudad
Juarez is lost for years to come.