Lewis, Clark council cool to dot.com effort

LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) – The National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial has refused
participation in its annual planning meeting to the dot-com company that wants to represent thousands of
communities and businesses along the trail of the Corps of Discovery.

The Associated Press The Billings Gazette

Director Michelle Bussard said the council has no problem with the commercial efforts of
http://www.lewisandclark200.com
and its hundreds of associated Web sites.
But she believes it is operating to the detriment of the official bicentennial site at
http://www.lewisandclark200.org
.
"I just think that vision doesn’t need to be realized by offending the greater Lewis and Clark community,"
she said. "We don’t compete with dot-com, and I don’t care to give them my attention. We walk in two entirely
different worlds."

Maxfield Ridgeway, vice president of business development for the Missoula-based Web business, is less
circumspect. He calls the council’s operation amateurish and Bussard a "power-mad despot."
"A lot of people are trying to make a buck, and we are too," Ridgeway said. "But we’re not petty bureaucrats
with cushy governmental jobs. We survive by our wits and bootstraps."
His company has registered about 700 branded Web sites using the 200.com extension, including every
state and city along the Lewis and Clark Trail.
"We are without a doubt the largest Lewis and Clark commercial Web site in the world, generating over a
million hits a month," Ridgeway said.
The company’s main site offers links to accommodations, restaurants and a multitude of other businesses
the length of the trail.
Several trademarks are pending, including Sacagawea health and beauty products, Ridgeway said, and
there will be some direct marketing of items like T-shirts. Businesses are charged $200 a listing for the life of
the bicentennial from 2003 to 2006.
The bicentennial is a multibillion-dollar event, Ridgeway said, and "we want to do some singing and
dancing with the Indians on the way to the bank. That’s our approach."
Bussard said the national council is interested in lasting legacy projects along the trail and with the tribes,
looking for vendors with products of some historical merit or special craftsmanship.
She called Ridgeway’s plan ambitious.
"To suggest you want to be the Yellow Pages of the Lewis and Clark Trail, you’re talking about hundreds to
thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of commercial ventures," Bussard said, "and I’m not sure anybody
could achieve that vision at this time."
The six-day planning conference that begins Tuesday is the seventh and last before bicentennial
observances begin next year. Lewiston is the smallest city along the explorers’ route to host a meeting.
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