EX-SKI CHAMP GETS JAIL FOR POT PLOT

SEATTLE (AP) - Former freestyle ski champ Michael Lund, on the run for 23
years after his indictment in a plot to smuggle 50 tons of marijuana into
Washington state, has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison but
could be free by Christmas.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour sentenced Lund on Friday, using the
sentencing structure in place in 1978, when Lund was indicted with nine
others - all convicted years ago. Prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence.

With credit for time served and good behavior, Lund - who pleaded guilty in
September to one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana - could be out
in a few months.

Lund, 65, told the judge before sentencing that he accepted responsibility
for his actions. The U.S. Marshals Service caught up with Lund in May at a
cut-rate motel in Denver, after he was fingerprinted during a custody
dispute with his third wife, years after their 1990 divorce.

A son and three daughters from his first two marriages had thought he was
dead. But Lund had gone to Santa Barbara, Calif., adopted a new identity,
met and married Wendy Starcher and went into the fishing business.

They moved to Jackson, Wyo., where Lund worked as a clerk and handyman.