The Home Page Network

It’s time once again to take a look at what happened the past week. The Weekly Highlights are a great way to catch up, but don’t forget that you can always watch the full stories from either our front page or the archives section.
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Movin’ Together – Tyranny of the Urgent | 01/23/17
When considering the schedule as our first tool for this year, it seemed right because nothing is more characteristic of modern life than the complaint, ‘If I only had time.” Did I just hear a sigh? As the well-known author, salesperson and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar stated, “Lack of direction, not lack of time is the problem. We all have 24 hour days.”

Don’t have a schedule? If we have piqued your interest, the booklet has a suggestion that you may try! The author encourages you to begin by noting (using computer or paper) how you spend your time for a week. For a more detailed account, you can write out the information in half hour segments. Otherwise, you can make notes during the day to summarize later in the evening. At the end of the week, plan some time to review how you have chosen to spend your time. If you decide that changes are needed, there is no time like the beginning of a new year to start–one day at a time.
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State of the Arts – The Potter’s Wheel | 01/24/17
Throwing, or creating pottery on the potters wheel involves 5 basic steps.

Step one is centering-with the wheel moving at medium speed, use upward pressure (coning) and downward pressure, to force the clay to the center of the wheel.

Step two is opening-in the center of the clay, use medium pressure to push two fingers into the clay to create a center hole that reaches to approximately 1/2 inch from the base of the wheel.

Step three is pulling/raising- with one hand inside the clay and one hand on the outside. Apply gentle pressure and slowly pull both hands upward. The small amount of clay trapped between your hands will move toward the top, making the walls of the clay taller and thinner. Repeat this process until the clay walls reach the desired thickness (typically between 1/2 to 1/4 inch.)

Step four is shaping-by pushing outward from the inside or inward from the outside, direct the clay into various shapes/forms.

Step five is finishing-If necessary, trim the top of the pottery to level. Trim the base of the pottery and remove from the wheel.
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Behind the Sparkle – Certified Gemology | 01/25/17
Bethany Hawn of Bethany’s Jewelry & Design in Mansfield introduces her debut feature of Behind the Sparkle. “I’d like to invite you to join me for me new feature where I will talk about gemstones and jewelry,” says Bethany. “Right here on the Home Page Network.” Bethany Hawn is recognized as a Graduate Gemologist and studied gemology in New York City at the Gemological Institute of America – the foremost in gemology. GIA created the first universal method for assessing the quality of diamonds, known commonly as “the four C’s.”

“It is important for a jeweler to be gemologically trained.” states Bethany. “For instance, if you take dear old granny’s yellow-stoned ring, you want your jeweler to be able to properly identify the stone.” A rare (and expensive) yellow sapphire may be misidentified as a more common citrine stone.

“From the point of a jeweler, I need to be able to identify that the stones I buy from my vendors are genuine.” Bethany remarks.
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NEB tops North Penn-Liberty, 54-44 | 01/26/17
The North-Penn Liberty Mounties hosted the Northeast Bradford Panthers in NTL small school division action on Wednesday January 25th. Northeast Bradford outlasted the Mounties in a nip and tuck game 54-44.
Northeast Bradford was led by David Ford’s 19 points. Austin Senn-Bishop added 10 points.
North-Penn Liberty was paced by Brandyn Choplosky’s 18 points. Garret Bickhart and Tyler Boyer also scored in double figures, with 11 points and 10 points, respectively.
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On the Radar – Distracted Driving | 01/27/17
Distracted Driving is any activity that takes your attention from the primary task of driving. It includes anything that requires you to take your hands off the steering wheel, take your eyes off the road, or take your mental focus from driving.

The PA State Police are currently focused on a distracted driving enforcement initiative. Informational pamphlets are being distributed during traffic stops to help increase all drivers’ awareness of the problem of distracted driving.

Statistics show us that 85-90% of all traffic crashes are caused by some sort of driver error – meaning we have the power to impact our traffic safety by driving safer. Distracted driving was the 2nd leading cause of crashes in 2015, falling only behind speed-related crashes. There were 61 fatal crashes in PA caused by distracted driving in 2015.