H&M's Pipeline Division is engaged and performs 13.8 miles of critical work for the Alliance Pipeline, a 2,333-mile pipeline meandering from British Columbia, in Canada, to Chicago, Illinois. H&M's portion of the job is the delivery segment of the mammoth, two-year project, and runs beneath the highly congested Chicago suburbs and interconnects the system to the main North American pipeline grid. This segment has many extremely sensitive obstacles, including 745kV overhead power lines, archeologically-sensitive sites, buried foreign pipelines, and private farms, to name a few. The project involves river crossings, directional drills, rock bores, trenching, power line right-of-way, 345 feet of solid rock under Interstate 55, drilling under a railroad bed, and more… H&M's Railroad Mounted Cable Plow, invented by H&M's late Marty Helmus thirty years previously -- and patented and improved several times since -- makes its debut in Contagem, Brazil, performing a demonstration of its versatility for utility and communications companies from both Brazil and the US… Henkels & McCoy initiates an in-house Help Desk department at Corporate headquarters to assist employees' problems with computer programs and hardware. The Help Desk successfully fields questions and problems from any of the company's offices, ranging from New England to Hawaii… Robert I. Johnston is elected Vice President by the Board of Directors of H&M. Bob joined the company in 1979 and rose to superintendent, to Manager of Operations in 1991, and to Pipeline Division Manager, in 1994… H&M's Network Cabling Solutions Division installs 14 miles of cable comprising the network infrastructure at Exploris, an interactive learning center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

January 7
Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial begins in the US Senate.

January 4
US agrees to ease some restrictions on communist Cuba, however, travel to the beleaguered island is still off limits to most Americans.

January 6
Dennis Hastert is elected to replace disgraced Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House.

January 6
Pro Basketball’s NBA ends 191-day labor dispute.

January 24
International Olympic Committee expels members as a judge bribery scandal widens. Skating judges were pressured to award Gold medals to Russian figure skaters. After the scandal breaks, the Russians get to keep their Gold medal, and the Canadian runners up (Silver) also receive the Gold.

February 12
President Bill Clinton is acquitted. He keeps his job, but his reputation as a president takes a beating. His reputation as a Lothario remains unquestioned, however. Clinton maintains that the investigations of his sexual activities are irrelevant to his performance as an elected official, and says that the investigations of financial impropriety, which proved to be groundless, were politically motivated as a way of derailing legislation and diverting the public's attention. First Lady Hillary Clinton, speaking in Clinton's defense the previous year, spoke of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" to bring down her husband. In later years, Clinton will agree, but says that there was not a conspiracy, it was right out in the open.

March 12
The Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary join NATO. The three countries were aligned with the USSR as Warsaw Pact members, and were former adversaries of NATO throughout the Cold War until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

March 20
First nonstop balloon flight around world completed. The 20 day flight was successfully teamed by Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of Britain.

March 24
NATO launches air strikes on Serbia to end attacks against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia.

March 26
Dr. Jack Kevorkian (left) is convicted of second-degree murder for his part in the assisted-suicide of a terminally ill cancer patient.

March 27
The "Melissa" computer virus spreads through the Internet.

April 5
Libya finally hands over two suspects in the 1988 Pan Am jet explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland.

April 20
Two alienated suburban Denver students go on shooting spree in Columbine High School, killing 15, including themselves (right). The two students had brought guns from their homes, highlighting the need for stricter gun control and a need for trigger locks.

May 7
NATO bombs mistakenly hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

May 8
The Citadel military academy graduates its first woman student.

May 16
Statistics show the US crime rate is down for seventh consecutive year.

May 17
Ehud Barak defeats the right-wing incumbent, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Israeli prime minister election. Photo: Barak, far left, shown walking with President Bill Clinton and Palestine leader Yassir Arafat at Camp David, during a protracted but failed attempt of a settlement of the Palestinian question and peace in the Middle East, in 2000.

May 20-24
US inspects suspected nuclear weapons site in North Korea, finds nothing (May 20–24).

June 9
Serbs sign agreement to pull troops out of Kosovo 11 weeks of surgical NATO air attacks.

June 16
Nelson Mandela retires as president of South Africa; succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.

July 10
US soccer team beats China in the women's World Cup final.

July 11
Taiwanese leader Lee Teng-hui challenges "One China" policy. China retaliates by launching unscheduled naval exercises off Tawain’s coast in an effort to cow independence-minded Taiwanese.

July 16
John F. Kennedy, Jr., wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are killed in a plane crash off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Kennedy was flying the plane from New York and became disoriented in fog as he approached the landing site was one possible explanation for the accident. The bodies are recovered several days later after an intense search. JFK Junior and his wife’s ashes are spread upon the water in a private funeral ceremony.

July 16
Colonel Eileen Collins becomes the first female to head a space shuttle mission.

August 9
Russian President Boris Yeltsin names Vladimir Putin as prime minister in the fourth government shakeup in less than 18 months.

August 10
Islamic militants declare independence for Dagestan and announce jihad (holy war) against Russia.

August 17
More than 17,000 people die in 7.4 earthquake in Turkey.

September 4
Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and PLO leader Yasir Arafat announce a peace accord. It will be short lived, and a new intifada will be declared within a year.

September 23
Ooops. NASA accidentally loses a $125 million spacecraft orbiting Mars.

October 1
As conflict with Islamic militants intensifies, Russia sends ground troops to Chechnya.

October 1
World population reaches 6,000,000,000 (that's six billion people).

October 12
Pakistani government is overthrown by a military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf.

October 13
Tobacco companies admit to harm caused by cigarette smoking.

October 25
Pro golfer Payne Stewart and five others killed in a small plane crash.

October 31
Egypt Air flight crashes over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 217 on board. Reports that the pilot may have deliberately crashed the airliner are vehemently denied by both the airline and the Egyptian government.

November 5
Judge finds Microsoft to be a monopoly. Bill Gates is still the richest man in the entire universe, however.

November 21
China joins the space club and launches its first spacecraft.

November 25
Five-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez, (right) in Florida, after a life threatening raft crossing from Cuba, gets caught in a politically charged custody battle between relatives in the US and his estranged father in Cuba. His divorced mother died during the perilous crossing. Photo: US agents forcibly remove Elian from custody of relatives, pending resolution of the case by Attorney General Janet Reno.

November 29
World Trade Organization conference disrupted by violent protests in Seattle.

December 2
New Northern Ireland government begins self-rule for first time in 25 years.

December 24
Muslim terrorists hijack Indian Airlines jet with 189 on board.

December 31
For the past five years or so, Y2K fever spreads around the world as uncertainty rises regarding computers' ability to process information properly when the Year Two Thousand arrives. Why? Most computers are programmed to conserve hard disk space by using only two digits to specify year dates rather than four digits (Apple Computers are a noteworthy exception). Consequently many people expect "December 31, 1999" to be followed by "January 1, 1900" in computer displays, clocks, etc. Dire predictions abound and range from airplane navigation systems locking up to complete erasure of financial records and disappearance of assets. A whole industry forms to eradicate the problem of the New Millennium Y2K Bug, even though the ACTUAL millennium will not really begin until January 1, 2001.

ALSO IN 1999:
A new toy for boys is the JFK version of the "GI Joe" action figure, shown as a pistol toting PT boat skipper. Available in stores in time for Christmas, 2000... Scientists measure the fastest wind speed ever recorded on earth, 509 km/h (318 mph)...

In Sports

What's on TV
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire -- an imported concept game show with a twist, streaks to number one. The Practice shoots to number six, with another courtroom drama, Law and Order, at number eight. The rest of the top ten schedule is pretty familiar ho-hum territory. Meanwhile, over in cable land, The Sopranos take the country by storm with a gripping tale of a North Jersey hood in a mid-life crisis and the mob's most dysfunctional 'family'. Badda-bing.

That's Show Biz
The Blair Witch Project emerges as an instant cult classic and becomes the most profitable film of all time, grossing more than $125 million. The film cost $30,000 to make.

Deaths
King Hussein of Jordan dies in February. In the final years of his reign, the king was a force for moderation and peace in the Middle East... Say it ain’t so. Yankee great Joe DiMaggio (left) dies at age 84, in March.