Hassling Fisherfolks by Park Rangers Causes Decline in Tourism at Point Lookout
By Ahmar Khan
ST. MARY’S TODAY

POINT LOOKOUT — The community calls him the Mayor of Scotland, but he calls himself a Redneck.
“You got to be a Redneck if you lived in the county for 25 years,” he tells the ST. MARY’S TODAY.
The waterman who went to work at age 14 “catching oysters, fish and crabs” jokes if I have a bomb in my car.
Rick Ince, 62, had been in business for 35 years now as owner of Rick’s Marine Center at Point Lookout, Scotland. He told St. MARY’S TODAY he started shop after he began to wear out as a waterman and tried to figure out something to do and not work just as hard.
“I have been putting in 100 hours each week. Easy,” he said since he launched his small business 35 years ago. Ince thought not much has changed with St. Mary’s demography, though he is now more careful with security.
The diversified business is engaged in wide-range of activities, ranging from selling worms to repairing boats, to cater to the needs of fishermen, boatmen, and tourists alike.
Ince has pretty much run the business all on his own, helped by a couple of loyal employees. “He’s been like a father to me,” said George Fish, 44, who has helped Ince for six years now.
“I have the mind of a 12-year-old when it comes to money,” said Ince, who moved to the area when he was just 3 with his serviceman dad. Perhaps like father, like son he describes his late dad as a kindhearted soul who looked out for fellow humans.
“It’s a lovely place to have lived and raised my three children,” said Ince.
Behind the Redneck humility, is a statesman style approach to the wellbeing of St. Mary’s County, however. He thinks before he talks, taking extra care no sentence he utters is unfair to anyone.
“Tourism helps stimulate both large and small businesses,” he said, but regrets that St. Mary’s County has done precious little to promote tourism.
He regretted the county in stead of finding creative ways to promote tourism was just too busy raising property taxes. “They are overtaxing the citizens to pad their pockets,” he said.
He felt both the state and county were lacking in seriousness to promote local tourism, explaining that was the reason tourism was on the decline instead of flourishing. “You have to look at the broad spectrum of issues,” he said. “It’s not just me, it’s the entire state of Maryland that suffers with dwindling tourist dollars.” he said.
He said St. Mary’s was a beautiful area and said there was no reason why it could not exploit its natural beauty.
He thought the county could have brought in more pressure on the state, but had opted for a do-little approach. Ince said the county did have tourism promotion office, but the birds there do not fly too far from their nests.
Ince reserved his ire for the policies at the Maryland State Park, which according to hime, has discouraged both local and far-off visitors.
He regretted the scaling fees structure discourages families and visitors to the park.
Ince said the park had seen its hey day when a lot of people came and a lot of people fished. “The keyword here is fished.”
Now, he said if a person came to the park and stayed for fishing he would have to have pay additional dollars. “If the wife decides not to fish, but just to sit there and observe how cute the man looks,” the park officials would come and shoo her away.
He said this has happened with people visiting the park from far off places. “They will never ever come back again. We have lost a lot of customers,” he said.
“You must please interview the park administrator,” he urged, to get the whole picture.
Mike Daras, 60, who lives close to the park, recalled the days when entry to the park was free for local residents. “Now if I go there with my wife and two grand daughters, it would cost us 20 dollars,” he said.
Ince said his all experiences at his 35-year-old business have remained pleasant. “It’s nice to help a wary traveler in need of direction,” he said.

Point Lookout State Park officials close off the fishing pier in the winter, even though fish may choose to bite. The pier requires no management as the park does not have trash cans on the pier, fisherfolks supply their own bait and at $85,000 a year in salary, the park administrator could certainly clean the restrooms. Salfwater fishing license fees paid for the pier 15 years ago and now the Ehrlich Administration charges people a fee to use the pier, while giving tax breaks to millionaires and big business.

ST. MARY’S TODAY photos