Of the concerns that could arise from ice fishing, most would think safety would be the number one worry. But this was not the case for an Ohio mayor who was against the idea of ice fishing because he said it could lead to prostitution.
The Hudson City Council conducted a regular meeting on Tuesday night when Council President Chris Foster brought up that residents had requested to fish on Hudson Springs Lake.
He shared that the sport had been banned on the lake because there had “been fatalities in the past.” So, he opened the floor for discussion, wanting to see what the others thought.
While others mentioned fear of safety for those fishing on the lake, Mayor Craig Shubert shared a differing opinion that seemed to escalate the situation rather quickly.
“If you open this up to ice fishing, while on the surface it sounds good, then what happens next year?” Shubert asked. “Does someone come back and say, ‘I want an ice shanty on Hudson Springs Park, for X amount of time?’ And then if you … allow ice fishing with shanties, then that leads to another problem: prostitution. And now you’ve got the police chief and the police department involved.”
The room quickly fell silent after Shubert’s comments, and Foster appeared to be taken back by how the mayor got to where he did in his line of thinking. After a few seconds, the council moved on to their remaining agenda items.
The Republican mayor has been in power since 2019. After the video blew up online, he issued a statement to Fox 8 saying his thoughts came “from my experience as a former television news reporter covering law enforcement agencies, which have made arrests for acts of prostitution in ice fishing shanties.”
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Shubert continued in the statement saying it is important to “discuss the potential for unintended consequences” of any proposed legislation.
“My statement was to enlighten council that the future permitting of ice shanties may lead to other issues,” Shubert said.
In an email to the Washington Post, a Hudson spokesperson said, “We have no issues with prostitution anywhere in Hudson.”
As for other city council members, City Councilwoman Nicole Kowalski could not believe what Shubert was saying, but said it was not the only time she had been astounded by his comments.
“This is not the first time he has made an outrageous statement like this, so I am not surprised,” Kowalski said in an email to the Post. “There have been no incidents like this to my knowledge, and absolutely no reason I would be concerned that anything like this would ever happen in Hudson.”
When it comes to the citizens of Hudson, Kowalski shared with The Post that they are as embarrassed as those watching with second-hand embarrassment.
“I have been contacted by many residents who have expressed dismay that the Mayor continually embarrasses our town with wild claims,” Kowalski said to the Post. “This type of behavior is not an accurate portrayal of our wonderful town.”
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