Hometown Hero

By Scott Cutlip CONTRIBUTING WRITER JASON FULLER

COMING

BACK TO SERVE HIS

TOWN

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Jason Fuller, 24, has spent most of his life in Greenwood. He graduated from Greenwood High School in 2014 and went on to get an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice at Arkansas Tech University. He joined the Fayetteville Police Department in 2018, but a long commute and the desire to work in his own community led him to the Greenwood Police Department, which he joined in the latter half of 2019.

“I always felt like there was something bigger out there for me,” said Fuller. “ ere’s more to life than just focusing on yourself. So I like to help other people when I can, and serve the community to the best of my abilities.”

Coming back to Greenwood was a perfect  t, Fuller said, as he feels the Greenwood Police Department is like a big family, and he gets to live in and work in his hometown.

“I’m glad I live where I do,” he said. “ e community is great. And the

community is what keeps me going and coming to work every day. I get to serve such a great population.”

 e coronavirus (COVID-19) has added an extra layer to being a police o cer in 2020, but Fuller said he’s been cognizant of safety before, wearing gloves.

“You approach some things di erently,” he said. “You take precautions before you ever get on scene to protect yourself. And then as soon as you clear a call, you sanitize and clean more than normal, and always put a mask on when on a call.”

While recent protests and questions about police behavior have dominated the news, Fuller believes the Greenwood Police Department sets a standard for other police departments.

“I genuinely believe we have one of the best police departments in the state of Arkansas,” he said. “From the top all the way to the bottom, I feel like everyone here would make the right choices.”

Fuller lives with his wife, Tayler, an assistant property manager with the Fort Smith Housing Authority. Fuller said some of his favorite hobbies include hanging out with his family, camping, and shooting at the  ring range.

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her pop-up shop in Paris. She said several of her customers brought up the possibility of a co ee shop in October.

She also said she believes a co ee shop is a “missing link” in the Greenwood community.

“ at aspect of Greenwood has kind of been lacking, so I’m kind of excited for people to come in here and have good conversation, but also to have a good cup of co ee,” said barista Hayden Keith.

 e shop uses Scars & Stripes co ee, which was created by and supports United States veterans. Sourced out of Guatemala and Brazil, the co ee works well in the shop’s drinks, Keith said.

On the other side of the counter, customers may choose from about a dozen jelly and jam  avors including blackberry and raspberry as well as more unconventional  avors like bacon jalapeno and Mountain Dew.  ey also may observe cra supplies on the far wall, which Presnell said will be used in a er-hours cra ing classes.

Presnell’s friends who o ered their time, talents, products and encouragement are who inspired her shop’s name, she said. She said she hopes the shop will be focused on community and friendship once it opens.

“I really hope it’s a place where people are going to want to come, sit down and have a cup of co ee. But if not, we want to be whatever that person needs,” she said.

 e Cup Runneth Over is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Hayden Keith THE CUP RUNNETH OVER BARISTA

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Grant Huneycutt, the subject of Greenwood Life’s cover story for the August 2019 edition, hasn’t let the coronavirus stop him from pursuing his dreams.  is spring, he entered a contest for BroadwayWorld, which held competitions for high school students (ages 14 to 17) and for college students (ages 18 to 22). Grant was among 600 who entered the high school portion, a er seeing the competition advertised on Instagram.

“We have a musical theater class, and every year at the end, we have a musical theater [presentation],” Grant said. “With COVID this year, we weren’t allowed to do that. Our teacher emailed us and said this year we were going to have a video showcase and send it to one of his friends, Chad Burris, who’s on Broadway in Mean Girls. I  lmed my  rst video for my high school, and then I saw this competition on Instagram, and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve already got this video  lmed. I might as well send it to them.’”

 e prize for winning the competition was $1,000 to the charity of your choice, merchandise and CDs, and an opportunity to record a single. Grant’s plan was to donate to St. Jude’s Hospital if he won.

 e competitors sent a performance piece, which was placed on the BroadwayWorld website for viewers to vote on.  e  rst week of the competition was used to winnow the 600 competitors to a more manageable number. Grant’s  rst number was “Build a Wall” from Shrek the Musical. A er the votes were tabulated, Grant was in the top 25.

Each week a er the  rst one, there were three judges, plus a special guest, who would watch the three competitors not voted in by viewers to continue and choose one of those to save

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within the competition.

Safely in the top 25, Grant, in week two, performed “I’m Allergic to Cats” from  e  eory of Relativity. Once again, the voters liked Grant well enough to bring him to the next level: the top 15.

During the third week of the competition, Grant performed “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” from Les Miserables.  e competition was going down to the  nal 10 for the next week, but Grant ended up being one of the three listened to see if the judges wanted any of them to continue on in the competition, but he was not saved by the judges and was out of the competition. “My next song would “ONE OF MY MAIN GOALS the top 25. I was so happy have been ‘Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the WITH THIS COMPETITION WAS TO GET MY NAME OUT because this was something I kind Boat’ from Guys and Dolls,” Grant THERE IN THE WORLD, IN THE BROADWAY COMMUNITY.” of threw out there. I was over the said. “I’ve moon.” been working on it for a couple weeks with my voice teacher, but I had played that role previously, so I already knew the song pretty well.” Even though the competition was online, once it was down to the top 15, Grant and some of the other competitors began to communicate with each other. “I’ve got to know a couple of them Grant Huneycutt Grant doesn’t have any regrets about from just messaging them,” he said. leaving the competition before the end. “I was ecstatic,” Grant said. “I was not even expecting to make it to As for future plans, Grant was supposed to be in a couple of musicals this summer, but COVID-19 made that an impossibility. He is looking forward to the possibility of musical theater camp and then school, and his senior year.

In November there is supposed to be a presentation of Newsies. In the latter half of the school year, Shrek the Musical would be presented by the Community School of the Arts in Fort Smith.

“One of my main goals with this competition was to get my name out there in the world, in the Broadway community,” Grant said, “Just to have a little advantage maybe going into this as a career.  is is what I want to do. So any kind of exposure is really, really good for the future.”

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