El Paso Art Association organized the first annual "International Eye of the Camera". (Ernie Chacon/Borderzine.com)

The International Eye of the Camera focuses on El Paso photography

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EL PASO – Photographs ranging from the beautiful scenery of the El Paso Mountains to the simplicity of a self-portrait dazzled spectators at the first annual “International Eye of the Camera” event at the Crossland Gallery. “We were most pleased for a first exhibit like this, with the number of entries and the quality of entries,” said Joyce Ewald, office administrator of the El Paso Art Association. The Art Association hosted the event November 30, which featured photographers from El Paso, Las Cruces, and Juarez.  The idea for the “International Eye of the Camera” came after the recent “Arts International” event, which excluded photographs because of limited space at the Crossland gallery. Ewald and a committee of four other members, decided to create an event solely for photographers.  “I felt that there were a lot of members who were photographers and I felt that they deserved a show too,” said Ewald. A total of 97 photographs were sent in, but the Art Association is hoping to see that number continue to grow at next year’s event.  “We need more photographers to get involved with the association.  If you want these events to happen you have to raise money” said Ernest L. Salazar, owner of ELS Photography, who also handed out one of the awards for the event.

In learning about my family and Smelter Town, I found out that my great, great grandma is buried in Smelter cemetary. (Ernie Chacon/Borderzine.com)

Smelter Town – a personal look at a ghost town firmly embedded in El Paso history

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EL PASO  – Smelter Town, a deserted ghost town on the north side of the Rio Grande inhabited for a century starting in the late 1880s by residents who worked for the copper smelting company that would become ASARCO has no inhabitants but is loaded with history. I was born in the late 1980s and I had heard stories from my grandma about her time living in Smelter Town when I was young. Of course, then I was a child who didn’t care about any of those things. I just wanted to play videogames, or run around outside pretending I was Indiana Jones with my rope which I imagined was the famous whip from the movies. I do remember news stories that were being reported about ASARCO in the 90s.

Former White House correspondent, Sam Donaldson, gave the lecture "Road to the White House." (Ernie Chacon/Borderzine.com)

Sam Donaldson says the presidential election is too close to call

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EL PASO – Veteran ABC news reporter Sam Donaldson has covered every national political election since 1964 but he has never seen one as close and as difficult to call as the upcoming contest next week between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. “I can’t call this election.  Many times at this point, two weeks before a presidential election you kind of know who is going to win. I don’t know this time,” Donaldson told students at the University of Texas at El Paso October 23. “It’s been an interesting year,” the former White House correspondent said. He told students that each candidate has flaws, referring to Obama as an “empty suit” during the first debate for which the President was criticized for not speaking out as forcefully on the issues as Romney did.

New El Paso law curbing ‘aggressive’ solicitation may have too broad a sweep

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EL PASO — On a late Sunday afternoon Eddie Salas Cano, 32, walked from the Opportunity Center on Myrtle Avenue to the busy gateway intersection on Missouri and Cotton wearing worn-out clothes and he stood near the cars holding up a sign that read “Homeless.”

Some drivers quickly rolled up their windows as Salas paced back and forth hoping for someone to drop a dollar. The meager moneys that homeless people like Cano pick up at intersections could be threatened by a new city ordinance that could target them even if they don’t pose a threat. “I have no family and no support, so I usually go to the Opportunity Center for assistance. When I don’t have any money to eat I stand holding my sign hoping for at least two dollars for the day,” Cano said. On October 9, the El Paso City Council passed an ordinance that bans aggressive solicitation in certain parts of the city in front of homes and businesses.