Steve Urbon scares me - Bill Lacey

Steve Urbon scares me.

In a one-newspaper town like New Bedford, Steve is the manifest incarnation of Little Bill Daggett, the Gene Hackman character in Clint Eastwood’s epic film, “Unforgiven”. Little Bill, himself a former gunfighter, aging and friendless, has appointed himself “the Law” in the whistlestop town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming. Bill’s preferred method of interrogation comes in the form of a bullwhip which he brandishes with quiet delight, punctuating his thoughtfulness with statements like, “…I'm gonna hurt you. And not gentle like before... but bad.” Little Bill isn’t nearly as reckless as he sounds. He has the advantage of being the smartest man in the room, having created a mystique based on the age-old practice of rule by confusion. Big Whiskey’s townsfolk, lacking in the social graces, revere Little Bill’s ability to keep the peace, overlooking the fact that they are prevented from glimpsing the truth from their own fear-induced blindness. Little Bill, too, is blind to “pure law”, instead assigning both blame and penance based upon personal need.

In his latest column, Mr. Urbon, the Standard-Times senior correspondent, turns one of the most toxic of recent events in New Bedford, the shooting of 15 year old Malcolm Gracia by a New Bedford police officer, into an opportunity to link the act to a personally perceived failure of our school department. Mr. Urban, through a series of poorly connected thoughts, encourages our own Big Whiskey townfolk to question whether or not this shooting could have been prevented at the school level.

I would pity Mr. Urbon if I weren’t so friggin’ pissed at him for his insinuation…

If we were to fully extrapolate Urbon’s treatise, school systems worldwide could be held accountable and to blame for every single one of life’s miserable moments.

Son of Sam? Not enough recess time.

Timothy McVeigh? Too many chemistry lab reports.

Craig Price? Forced to use a No. 2 pencil.

Here’s the thing. When it comes to good and bad, four options are possible:

Good people do good things.
Bad people do good things.
Good people do bad things.
Bad people do bad things.

We call it personal accountability.

While far more legal heads than mine sort out the events of that night in Temple Landing, one overriding fact stands clear: only Steve Urbon has found a way to connect this incident to our school system. It was the school system that gave life to this young man. It was the school system that tucked him in at night. It was the school system whose daily activity shaped his understanding of interpersonal relationships as a toddler. It was the school system that created his vision of order and, it was the school system that placed a knife in his hand that evening…

Have you ever been in a lengthy conversation with a stranger and, after walking away, suddenly realize there was nothing of substance discussed and you wish you had those precious few moments back again? That’s how I felt when my read-through of Urbon’s piece had concluded. Kinda like he had phoned in the article… But, as in past dissections, I’ll try my best to present Steve’s disoriented thought process in a more manageable way. Please keep your arms and legs inside the ride vehicle at all times, this is bound to get bumpy…

Urbon begins by immersing the reader in a discussion of the tensions that purportedly exist between local law enforcement and individuals who live in the former United Front complex, the scene of a racial riot in the 70’s. He allows that United Front’s revitalization project is pretty. “…wonderful to look at, with everything looking new in those pastel colors.”, is his description. He seems to have only missed the opportunity to quote Dassin, “There are eight million stories in the Naked City…”. Perhaps in a future installment. Urbon locates two convenient sources to help support his coming argument, a friend of Gracia (his name not quoted here due to my policy of not naming possible minor children) and Nicholas Baptist, described as a seventh grade teacher and mentor of Gracia’s. Baptist is later to be revealed as no longer being in the teaching profession which is, if nothing else, convenient to the process. The friend is quoted as saying, “They come over here harassing people. ... They just take people's life away." And so we are left to believe in this one quote that law enforcement officers needlessly harass our city’s youth while simultaneously assuring them of never becoming “all they can be”. Convenient, Steve. Short on substance, content, repeatable validity and authoritative evidence, but convenient nonetheless. Baptist is not quoted but we are encouraged to accept his complete understanding of Malcolm Gracia’s personal torment, the torment that resulted in his reportedly stabbing a member of our local law enforcement. Baptist’s thoughts on Malcolm Gracia are condensed for the reader, “Baptist (, ) remembers him as intelligent if restless and troubled about things, especially about the death of his father in a police shooting in Dartmouth three years ago.” Does Urbon accept these statements as permissible criteria for Gracia’s involvement in the altercation? For if he does, there will soon be ‘eight million plus’ stories in our Naked City… The last thing we need support in this area is a sense of entitlement given to any young person whose life has held tragedy. 
This is not to say that Urbon doesn’t weakly support the very officers who protect him. He does. Backhandedly. Urbon’s quote, “I know that the police are frustrated with "no snitching" campaigns and the refusal of people, sometimes even victims, to talk with them. Yet I hope that somehow, Police Chief David Provencher will find a way to reach out to the Law Stay Away corner, especially now.” Law Stay Away is code for “we’ll fix things ourselves”, I guess. I can’t imagine that the majority of Temple Landing would prefer a gang’s version of Wild West justice. There have been far too many reports of innocent children, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, brothers and fathers who have perished by way of wayward “justified” bullets sent without thought from the shortend of illegal handguns. Or knife wounds… Urbon’s answer is to further place blame at the feet of New Bedford’s police chief. If ONLY David Provencher had been there this wouldn’t have happened. It’s getting to the point where our newspaper is expecting every family to have a live-in firefighter, police officer, schoolteacher, EMT, social worker, translator, daycare worker, therapist and on, and on, and on… Entitlement begets social and personal irresponsibility.

That’s when Steve Urbon finally drops the argument he’s been holding back on since the inception of his piece. You see, if only Malcolm Gracia hadn’t fallen through the cracks of the New Bedford Public Schools…
BAM.

Urbon followed Little Bill’s advice and while everybody began the journey of agreement with him, his final solution wasn’t even within sight. That is, until the final reel. Urbon musters his most severe umbrage for the one group he’s had in his sights for months, if not years. “This young man fell through the cracks in New Bedford's school system. He spent time at the alternative high school, which was probably the best available place for him, and even some time at St. Vincent's Home in Fall River.” And, “…someone made the decision to return Gracia to the Keith Middle School, and the youth's life began to spin out of control.” 
There you have it folks. Little Bill and Steve Urbon have one more thing in common, the advantage of misdirection. For surely if the townsfolk are heated up over the “spin” that’s first served, it’s a small journey to agreement of the blame you place. In Little Bill’s case, he convinced the town of an innocent man’s guilt and served justice by whip, six feet and nine tails at a time. Small matter that the character he chose to “hurt bad” had no part in the act he was so intent upon remedying. Someone had to pay. Guilt and innocence had no speaking lines in that second act.

So it is with Urbon’s final condemnation of the NBPS. You see, somebody’s got to pay. Steve’s inference is that but for the failings of Gracia’s school history, he would be alive, a police officer would not be recovering from stab wounds and everything in New Bedford would be as bright and shiny as the facades of Temple Landing. My greatest concern is how many people Urbon can win over with his brand of misdirection and ignorance of the facts, which as I see it tells a slightly different tale… The old adage rings true today as it did in Big Whiskey: You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.




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