NATION IN BRIEF : ALASKA : Eskimos Celebrate 1988 Whale Rescue

Eskimos were holding the First Anniversary Celebration of the Great Gray Whale Rescue at Point Barrow, Alaska, today to mark last year's massive three-week effort to save three whales trapped by ice. One disappeared under the ice; the other two were freed by Eskimos using chain saws, aided by Soviet icebreakers, but their ultimate fate is unknown. A Soviet environmentalist is one of the few invited guests at the celebration. Similar strandings are considered unlikely this year because warmer weather has kept ice well off Alaska's arctic shore.