Kirk | Author: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License Thumbnail photo: Screenshot (Updated at 2:56 p.m. to clarify that Greenough served as Crescent City Mayor in 2021 and 2022.) Before asking his colleagues to observe a moment of silence for his death, Crescent City Councilor Jason Greenough said he modeled his leadership style on fallen right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk. “I have struggled with this all week, that in a country where we value our freedoms so much, that someone would be willing to kill another human being for their opinion,” Greenough said Monday. “And I know when I was mayor I pushed that every single person that stepped up to that microphone would have their time to bring their mind and their thoughts and their beliefs to us.” Stumbling a bit over his words, Greenough, who was Crescent City mayor in 2021 and 2022, recapped the events that led to Kirk’s killing at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. The city councilor also praised Kirk for his practice of going onto college campuses and engaging youth in “civilized debate” and said his killing was despicable. “He would start off his sessions and ask the people in the audience who disagree with him to come to the front of the line because he would want to hear their thoughts and speak to them,” Greenough said, calling Kirk a “brother in Christ.” “He was a man of faith, a man of family, a man of country — he was patriotic, he loved his country and the freedoms we enjoy — and I feel it’s a fitting thing we take this time to at least acknowledge a fellow American.” Pointing out that there wasn’t a formal vote being requested, Mayor Ray Altman allowed the moment of silence to proceed. Founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, Kirk published a series of books and hosted a talk radio program called The Charlie Kirk Show. He was known for engaging in debates on college campuses via his “Prove Me Wrong” table and was an ally of President Donald Trump. While conservatives praised Kirk for his engagement with young Americans, others have pointed out Kirk’s divisive views on civil rights, transgender rights, feminism and Islam, The New York Times’s Elisabeth Bumiller wrote on Sept. 13. “Among thousands of young conservatives on American college campuses he was a rock star, a gifted speaker who relished debating with more liberal students,” Bumiller wrote. “At the 2024 Republican convention, he reached out directly to his generation. ‘Democrats have given hundreds of billions of dollars to illegals and foreign nations, while Gen Z has to pinch pennies just so that they can never own a home, never marry and work until they die, childless,’ he said.” Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah before an audience of about 3,000. Following an intensive manhunt, the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson surrendered to the authorities on Sept. 12. Kirk’s death wasn’t the first global event Greenough has asked his colleagues to respond to locally. Following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack against Israel, Greenough asked his colleagues to draft “some kind of support letter for the people of Israel” to send to the Israeli embassy. However, though Greenough and then-mayor pro tem Blake Inscore wrote the letter, following opposition from the public, a proposal to send it to the Israeli consulate didn’t get beyond the first motion. On Monday, Greenough thanked his colleagues for observing the moment of silence for Kirk. “Political violence is never OK in our country,” he said. “It’s never OK. Thank you for doing that and being decent.”