February 16th is a significant day for Alaska Natives. It is the day in 1945 when Alaska Territorial Governor Ernest Gruening signed a bill enacting the Anti-Discrimination Act. It was this Act that secured equality for Alaska Natives by prohibiting discrimination in public places.   And it was the work of Alaska Native and civil rights leader Elizabeth Peratrovich and her husband Roy that must be remembered. Their fight against discrimination was honored and recognized in 1988 when the Alaska legislature declared February 16 Elizabeth Peratrovich Day.   Elizabeth Peratrovich

In the 1940s, Peratrovich and her husband began fighting the prejudice that Alaska Natives faced in education, business, housing, law, and federal benefits. They fought as presidents of the Alaska Native Sisterhood and Alaska Native Brotherhood ­ twin groups dedicated to achieving political and social change for Alaska Natives, beginning in the territorial days.   They were diligent with their letter-writing campaign and testimony. But in 1945, it was the words of Elizabeth Peratrovich, spoken from the gallery during a Senate hearing on equal rights, that rang home when she reminded legislators of the Bill of Rights and alerted them to the existing injustice. Her demeanor and dignity were in striking contrast to many of the ills she was fighting.   Today, the Peratrovichs are remembered each year in February. A bronze bust of Elizabeth, sculpted by her son, Roy Jr., sits in the foyer of the Capitol Building in Juneau. And recent news from the National Museum of the American Indian excites sons Roy and Frank and continued on page 2

Jointly owned by CIRI and Nabors Industries, Peak Oilfield Service Company continues to prosper as it enters the first quarter of the fiscal year. The company, which provides construction, equipment maintenance and other oilfield services on Alaska's North Slope, and in Kenai and Valdez, has recently been awarded two contracts to construct ice roads for ARCO.   Ice roads on the North Slope are laid across the tundra and sea to facilitate the construction of exploratory drill rigs as well as to transport materials. The two projects together will consist of approximately 50 miles of ice roads. The first project will be used to transport ARCO Alpine Project

modules, roughly the size of the CIRI building in Anchorage, while the second project will create an ice road to the National Petroleum Reserve.   Ice roads, constructed during the winter months, are more cost effective than gravel roads and provide access to remote locations with little or no environmental damage. Peak is committed to preserving Alaska's unique environment and believes in minimizing the damage to the tundra as much as possible. In fact, by late spring, it will be difficult to know where an ice road had existed the winter before, as opposed to a gravel road, where the physical traces are visible for months afterwards. continued on page 7