Five years ago, 2012
• Four suspects, including a mother and son, were charged in the murder of Clay County Sherriff’s Office Det. David White who was killed during a narcotics team raid of a suspected methamphetamine lab in Middleburg. White was later honored by CCSO when they renamed its administration building to the David A. White Memorial Headquarters.
• The Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 to accept a $500,000 donation from Green Cove Springs businessman Clayton Revels to renovate the Council on Aging’s senior center despite contention that the acceptance could incur a lawsuit from Revels’ family.
• The St. Johns River Water Management District’s Governing Board approved a project to evaluate the effects of introducing additional water on water quality and hydrology into a southwest Clay County watershed, with the eventual goal of finding sustainable ways to replenish the aquifer.
Ten years ago, 2007
• Controversy arose surrounding the Clay County School Board’s plan to convert the failing Orange Park Elementary School into a magnet school for gifted children throughout the county, alienating children living nearby from going to a neighborhood school.
• Camp Chowenwaw officially opened as a county park after the county bought the property from the Girl Scouts of Gateway Council for $5.8 million.
• Ground was broken on Oakleaf’s Elementary School W, later renamed Oakleaf Village Elementary school, which was scheduled to open in the fall of 2008. The 30-acre site cost $23 million to build, and would be the only elementary school east of Branan Field-Chafee Road.
Twenty Years ago, 1997
• The Animal Rights Federation marched on Blanding Boulevard and Wells Road in protest of the use of kittens for dissection in Middleburg High School science classes. Many Clay County residents were mortified by the potentially traumatizing practice, while others regarded the dissections as a useful learning experience.
• Unexpected heavy rains occurred in the middle of dry season and forced many Middleburg residents from their homes when Black Creek water levels rose 17.5 feet as reported by the National Weather Service.
• Green Cove Spring’s city manager Eric S. Meserve had a busy first day on the job when he sat in on multiple meetings throughout the day regarding the city’s new ordinance regulating solid waste disposal and damages to the pool deck in Spring Park.
• The Naval Aviation Depot, Jacksonville Humanitarian Award was given to NADEP JAX Quality Assurance Specialist Raymond R. Dreyer to recognize his unselfish dedication after he prevented Johnna McKinnon from falling backward into a TF34 engine pit, saving her life.
Thirty Years ago, 1987
• After a year and a half of work put into the project, Clay County implemented an emergency telephone system that allowed residents to reach help quickly in the event of an emergency by simply dialing 911.
• Wal-Mart announced that it would open an 85,000-square foot store on Blanding Boulevard on Bolton Road, along with five other stores in the Jacksonville area.
• After buying an IBM computer with a 60-megabyte storage capacity in 1983, the Green Cove Springs city council considered purchasing a memory upgrade for $12,400 that would increase storage space to 200 megabytes, and would pay for the upgrade by delaying the purchase of automated meter reading equipment.
40 years ago, 1977
• Dr. Norbert Herman, the German Ambassador to Peru, was awarded honorary citizenship in Orange Park by Mayor Hance Bruce during their two-month visit to the area as guests of Dr. and Mrs. Edwin Heinrich.
• The Orange Park Town Council and the Board of County Commissioners voted to pledge $2,500 to begin an effort to purchase 36 acres of land in Montclair for a new park.
• City Commissioner Joe W. Love was sworn as Green Cove Springs’ first black mayor in the town’s nearly 100-year history.