If there is one thing about Pueblo, it’s a town with a steadfast loyalty to tradition. It’s Red-Blue high school football game, for example—Centennial versus Central— has been played for more than 130 years! It’s the longest high school rivalry west of the Mississippi. But every now and then something comes along that challenges this orthodoxy.

Pueblo native Jocelyn Martinez has introduced the town to a new way of eating. For the better part of the last two years, she’s been slowly, steadily debuting a newer, healthier cuisine—actually a whole new way of thinking about food—to this meat-and-potatoes town. And no more brick and mortar for Martinez. Soon, she’ll swing open the doors to SoulSmile Health & Wellness, a 45-foot mobile food kitchen that will be anchored in the same Hyde Park community where she grew up.

“I lost my brick and mortar (building),” she said. She worked there for two years but the challenges of COVID took her in another direction, one unlike any Pueblo had seen before.

“I knew that I needed something to continue my business and also knew that a commercial kitchen wouldn’t work,” she said. After scouring the internet for weeks, she found the perfect vehicle for pursuing her dream. Amazingly, she found what she was looking for just a few miles from her westside home, in Pueblo West.

SoulSweet Health & Wellness will be one of the most sophisticated mobile food operations in Pueblo or the entire region. Martinez said it will be twice as spacious her previous kitchen, outfitted with two ovens, two flat tops, a grill, four fryers, a stand-up freezer-refrigerator and a three-compartment sink. “It’s really unique for Pueblo,” she said

Martinez, whose telephone voice percolates with both excitement and optimism when discussing her dream, one that will be up and running by the end of January, honed her skills and knowledge of food while living in Denver. For more than a decade she worked in a number of high-end capital city restaurants doing everything from waiting tables to, ultimately, managing entire operations. When not serv- ing or supervising, she was asking questions and learning about everything from food preparation to scheduling food deliveries. Her curiosity paid off.

When she moved back to her hometown, she also worked for Sysco, a statewide food distribution company and oversaw food preparation at the Pueblo Convention Center.

But it was her own health scare that made her rethink what she was putting into her own body. “Mainly I was having inflammatory responses and pain in my body,” she said. Testing didn’t tell her what was wrong. Then a light went on. As she learned new things about diet and nutrition, Martinez took an off-ramp leading her to a whole new way of eating. She eliminated foods with gluten and dairy and almost magically, she swears, her health improved.

Introducing new food offerings to her community and all of Pueblo, she doesn’t believe, will be nearly the challenge some might think. In fact, many of her menu items will just be ‘new and improved’ versions of the ‘old and familiar.’

Her menu won’t be indecipherable, new-age dishes. They will include “Pueblo green chile enchiladas—completely dairy and gluten-free,” she said. There will also be ‘comfort food’ that will include lasagna made with her own ricotta cheese. Again, dairy-free. The cheeses in her food, she said, will be “plant-based.”

Martinez says she knows her base and has no doubt that a new century approach to blue collar diets is a transition that can be made. In fact, she says a little known secret is that “Pueblo has a very big health and wellness community.” In addition, Martinez said she also works with a number of doctors who have encouraged their patients to rethink diet and nutrition. This relationship continues to pay off. “There were needs. Word of mouth just kept getting bigger…people were finding me.” Also, she said “I was the only person doing it.”

While Martinez has big plans for her culinary venture—she wants one day to expand out of Pueblo—one of her great satisfactions is living and working in the community where she grew up.

Hyde Park, a name not nearly as regal as it might sound, is one of Pueblo’s food deserts. The Westside Market, where locals could once get at least a semblance of variety, closed long ago. The community’s food options are limited to a convenience store where people can shop, but the nearest well- stocked grocery store with variety including fresh produce is a fifteen-minute drive away.

Martinez is nothing but confident and determined. Just getting the permits for SoulSmile Health & Wellness required conquering the bureaucratic maze for opening a business. The experience gained in Denver with new restaurant openings was essential for her Pueblo adventure. She called it great preparation for everything from getting the green-light from various commissions to final approval from the Pueblo City Council.

Martinez will mostly be working with a staff of two, her and her 16-year-old son, Kaiden. Martinez said her husband, Stephen, will be a silent partner. There are currently no plans for her nine-year-old daughter, Maya, to put on an apron.

To learn more about SoulSmile Health & Wellness, Martinez invites anyone to visit Jocelyn403@wixsite.com/soulsmile.

The United States and the world have been in a difficult battle with a nearly invisible enemy for more than two years. It—COVID-19—was first identified in China in late 2019 and quickly spread in all directions causing death and misery on every continent but the most desolate, Antarctica. To date, the world has lost more than five million souls, the United States accounting for nearly one fifth of all deaths.

But in December 2020, the fruits of Operation Warp Speed, the name given to the research project aimed at developing an effective vaccine against Covid was introduced. It remains a modern miracle that it came to market as quickly as it did and has subsequently saved lives wherever the virus has landed.

Colorado’s vaccination rates hover in the middle of the national pack with just 67 percent of the population vaccinated. In Pueblo, there’s a different story altogether. There, vaccination rates fall well below both national and state levels with only 54 percent of county residents fully vaccinated according to data supplied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state average for full vaccination is 67 percent.

Still, despite Pueblo County having only 54 percent of its residents fully vaccinated, it still leads neighboring counties. Alamosa County is only marginally behind Pueblo at a 53.8 percent vaccination rate followed by Huerfano, Custer, Fremont and Crowley counties who come in at 51.8, 46.1, 41.6 and 20.8 percent respectfully.

Among Pueblo County’s Hispanic population, vaccination rates fall well below what public health officials would like. The county health department reports that only 35 percent of Pueblo County’s Hispanic residents are fully vaccinated, getting two COVID-19 shots plus a booster. But only 40 percent of the county’s Hispanics have gotten only one shot. All tolled, more than 224,000 shots have been administered countywide, said Joseph.

Though Pueblo hospitals, unlike the northeast United States, are not seeing the crisis situation caused by the COVID-19 or its variants in 2020, concern remains. “Looking at the data,” said Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment’s Sarah Joseph, “it took months for Delta to be the main variant in Colorado. It took about two weeks for Omicron to be the main variant.”

For the present, hospitals are functioning at normal levels. But, said Randy Evetts, Director of PCDH&E, “We do not know fully what to expect in terms of hospitalizations moving forward.” He made his comments to The Pueblo Chieftain.

The Omicron variant which is marked by scratchy or sore throat symptoms along with a nasal congestion is said to be a milder version of its predecessors. But medical experts also say it spreads two to three times more rapidly as other variants. One theory is that it likely spreads when people infected with it breathe out through their nose releasing the virus.

In late December, the city detected Omicron in its wastewater, said Joseph. With that, it wasted no time going on full alert for the variant. The department immediately issued a public health advisory on December 23rd. “We’re fortunate,” said Joseph, “because the virus is detected in wastewater up to three days prior to detecting in a person though PCR testing.” To date, only one case of the new variant has been identified countywide, said Joseph. It was identified just before Christmas.

Despite being only eighth largest city in the state, Pueblo has experienced its own dramatic spike in Covid cases and deaths. In early fall of 2020, after a summer long flatline in cases, Pueblo went through a dramatic spike.

In September 2020, only 224 cases of COVID-19 were logged. Then things took on a different shade. For the next three months, cases exploded in a nearly exponential manner. In December 2020, the county tabulated more than 6,300 cases and 162 deaths.

Omicron has come to Pueblo, the hub of southern Colorado. And while the spawn of COVID-19, the virus that has killed 830,000 Americans and five million worldwide, has not so far completely dropped anchor, health officials are monitoring its presence closely in this war that has been waged for more than two years.

It is a war that we’re seemingly equipped to fight, though strategies from nation to nation differ widely. It’s also, regrettably, one where certain of those among us refuse to pick up their weapons and, instead, choose to fight the invisible enemy unarmed.

Despite vaccines against the virus being available for more than a year, only 200 million Americans are today fully vaccinated. Compared to all world nations, the United States fails to reach the top twenty in vaccination rates. Gibraltar, the island nation, sits at the top of the list of vaccinated countries with a 97 percent rate. Only 62 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against one more of these invisible enemies.

Omicron was first detected in late November in the African nation of Botswana though it is suspected the variant may already having been spreading two months earlier. The Associated Press reported that four individuals—all vaccinated—were infected. Researchers were shocked by how the variant had evolved from the parent virus, an indi- cation that the coronavirus will continue to evolve.

The first Omicron diagnosis in the U.S. was recorded in San Francisco on December 1st. But the hotspot now is New York where a record 85,000 cases per day are being logged. The current impact of the variant has created a memory of COVID’S darkest days of 2020.

In just over a month, Omicron has now been diagnosed in every U.S. state. Despite more than two years of learning about COVID now in the books no one is ready to even suggest victory is in sight.

Two days before Christmas, the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment announced that it had detected the Omicron Variant in the city’s wastewater. In a PDPHE news release, the agency said, “testing wastewater can give health officials early warning about increases or decreases in COVID-19 cases in a community.”

There, so far, have been no official cases of individuals affected by the variant in the county. But because of the area’s hot spike in COVID cases and deaths between September 2020 through the early part of 2021, the depart- ment is wasting neither time nor effort in warning the public. “There is evidence Omicron Variant will spread faster and cause higher levels of reinfection and vaccine- breakthrough compared to the delta variant,” said the county’s Public Health Director, Randy Evetts. The delta variant was the first offshoot of COVID-19.

Evetts also warned employers and schools to “expect rapid spread of the virus and subsequent high levels of absenteeism due to illness among staff and students in the first quarter of 2022.”

The Omicron Variant has landed in Colorado and the nation concurrent with the annual arrival of influenza. As a result, Evetts is also urging county residents to get a flu vaccine in order to “protect you and your family from flu and reduce the chances that you will require hospital care if you do contract influenza.”

The city has now two sites open for COVID testing. One is located at the Colorado State Fairgrounds at the corner of Mesa and Arroyo Avenues. It is open seven days a week between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The other location is in the Pueblo Mall. It is operating with similar hours but is closed on Sunday.

The Centers for Disease Control believes the newest variant is likely to spread more quickly than any of its predecessors and vaccination offers no sure protection against contracting it. However, the CDC says, “vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the Omicron variant.”

The current buffet of vaccines, Moderna, J & J, and Pfizer, said the CDC “have remained effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death.” Still, as we have learned, none of the vaccines have proven entirely effective in the prevention of new exposures or breakthrough exposures to the virus. Currently, the CDC recommends that everyone five years and older get fully vaccinated and that everyone 18 years or older get a booster shot at least two months after their initial vaccine.

For more information on Omicron or any COVID related news and information, visit pueblohealth.org. To get updated information on monitoring COVID-19 in Pueblo wastewater, visit https://covid19.colorado.gov/covid-19-monitoring-in-wastewater.

When we were first introduced to the term pandemic, not a lot of people used the word. That’s the not case any longer. COVID-19, the virus that has infused fear into nearly society in the world, is the scourge that has helped add pandemic to our collective societies.

Pueblo, once the second largest city in Colorado, suffered through a big city-like COVID wave. It wasn’t a wave that suddenly appeared. In fact, the city had found itself in a lull. In Fall of 2020, Pueblo’s rate of infections had actually dropped to a very manageable 224 cases. But that was the calm before the storm. Each subsequent month experienced a steady and dramatic increase. Two months after recording its lowest number of cases, it counted 6,300 by year’s end. The virus’s highest death toll was December when 162 deaths were marked.

The city, as so many others, is now facing the challenge of COVID’S spawn, Omicron, a variant of the virus that has just begun its march across the globe.

One of the great pleasures of living in Colorado—and particularly, southern Colorado—is the music that clings to its roots, roots that go back generations. Johnny ‘Ritmo’ Rodriguez gifted audiences all across the state with a unique blend of rock and roll to Mexican ballads to ‘throwin’ chancla’ with anyone. “We were family; we were strong; we were each other’s energy,” said TJ, the group’s keyboardist and son of the elder Rodriguez. Rodriguez died in February, a victim of COVID.

Last April, La Voz Bilingüe dedicated its front page to a story a lot of Coloradans don’t know and possibly, even more would care not to remember. In the April 27th edition of the paper, we wrote about Camp Amache, once the home to an estimated 8,000 displaced Japanese-Americans. The camp’s residents were there not because they had broken a law, but because of a war time law that forced them out of their homes, away from the West Coast, and to the interior of the country. Today, this stain on ‘American exceptionalism’ stands lonely on the tall, windswept plains of Eastern Colorado, out of the way, but not out of memory. The drive to Granada, the closest town to Camp Amache, is a 228 mile trip from Denver.

Like the face of a once lovely movie icon, the face of Colorado is undergoing significant change of its own. Its once verdant landscape is now dry and brittle, with cracks impossible to mask and its condition is only growing more severe. Climate change has parched Southern Colorado, leaving jig-saw-like terra firma in its place. University of New Mexico Water Resource Director, John Fleck, who has monitored drought in the Southwest for decades, says don’t look for a turnaround anytime soon. “Climate change changed everything…it’s been a gradual warming atmo- sphere for a good part of the last seventy-five years.” His own state’s Elephant Butte Reservoir was measured this summer at 95 percent below normal levels.

In a July 2021 story, we highlighted one of the treasures of Pueblo who goes by the name of Helen Benavidez. She runs the Pueblo Community Soup Kitchen, a place that feeds the ever growing homeless and hungry of the city. Of course, the veteran do-gooder doesn’t do it by herself. Though she has only a couple of paid staffers, she’s rounded up enough volunteers, including octogenarian Floyd Parks to meet the mission. She lets Parks handle the facility’s swamp coolers but adds, “I refuse to let him get on the roof by himself.” The Soup Kitchen relies on a subsidy from the city and donations from local grocery stores.

As the year wound down with days getting cooler and nights getting longer, we thought it only appropriate to include a Halloween story in our coverage of southern Colorado. We didn’t have to go farther than Pueblo for the supernatural.

Union Avenue’s Gold Dust Saloon, once many times rowdier than its modern day incarnation, jumped out as a good starting place. The saloon was once shadowed by the city’s official hanging tree. More than a few patrons and employees of the place swear to the odd noises they’ve heard over the years. A television crew even made a visit and noted a few unexplained, perhaps even spooky, events. Faculty, staff and students at Pueblo Central High School, opened in 1881, also say the school’s music room has unexplained tales. The Rosemont Museum, the Redstone mansion of John and Margaret Thatcher, also hides volumes of stories about things that go bump in the night.

While Pueblo doesn’t get nearly the lights shined on it as many other Colorado cities, Mayor Nick Gradisar says ‘hold on to your hats.’ New jobs are coming to the town, money from President Biden’s $1 trillion dollar infrastructure package is earmarked for more than a few dramatic improvements, including an estimated $25 million for redoing the city’s historic Union Avenue bridge. “It’s nearly a hundred years old and doesn’t meet the (structural) standards…it needs to be replaced.”

The city is on the move said, Gradisar. And it’s only an hour and half from Denver. ‘Come on down!’