The Nation - News from Aug. 8, 1986

Nine Indian fishermen convicted after a 1983 sting operation agreed to surrender to Yakima tribal law officials in a test of the authority of federal courts, their lawyer said. Attorney Jack Schwartz said they would appear before a tribal judge in Toppenish, Wash., on accusations that they violated reservation fishing laws. Schwartz said they would take the legal stand that they do not have to begin federal prison terms of from one to five years today because they will be in a tribal jail. He said they were tried in U.S. District Court because the maximum any of them could receive from tribal court was six months and an 1855 treaty had given the Indians sovereignty on reservation matters.