TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- A panel with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has ruled against a tribal fisherman accused of illegally harvesting 3,857 pounds of fish from Lake Michigan last fall.

The tribe's Natural Resources Commission late last week upheld a citation issued by state conservation officers to Tommy Battice, a resident of Custer in Mason County.

Battice was fined $250 and forfeited $1,141.90 paid by wholesalers for the whitefish and lake trout he caught. His commercial fishing permit was suspended for 30 days.  more...