5 years ago, 2013
The City of Green Cove Springs property tax rate for the 2014 fiscal year starting October 1, 2013 was set tentatively at the 2013 rate of 2.9821 mills. The measure passed on a 3-2 vote with councilors Van Royal and Ray Braly voting no.

Orange Park Town Council discussed spending $50,000 to study the best way to spruce up the east end of Kingsley Avenue at River Road in a project that would become known as Kingsley East.

U.S. Marshals captured Adrian Bernard Seward, then-44, at a Jacksonville motel to extradite to Clay County where he was charged with murdering his wife, Oakleaf-area resident Lashawna Criswell Seward, who on July 22, had him sign divorce papers.

10 years ago, 2008
Thunderbolt Elementary School music teacher Kathleen Myrick, a mezzo soprano, announced she would be leaving her post to pursue a life-long dream of performing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Doug Correia, owner of Woodchuck’s Furniture store, signed paperwork transferring the deed to his store at 1017 Blanding Blvd. near Orange Park to domestic violence shelter Quigley House, which would transform the former home into a thrift store.

Al Jazeera America reporters Sherine Tadroa and Tony Zumbado traveled to Orange Park’s Club Continental where they interviewed Brian Graham of Middleburg and Matt Justice of Orange Park about their roles in Republican Party politics and the 2008 election.

20 years ago, 1998
More than 100 residents filled the regular meeting of the Clay County School Board to protest the site selection for “Elementary School Q,” which was planned to be built on County Road 208 adjacent to Heath Road citing toxic levels of arsenic on the land.

Orange Park Medical Center nurse Brenda Vencill prepped for a two-week mission aboard the Caribbean Mercy Ship where she would donate her services in an ophthalmology clinic where free cataract surgeries would be performed.

CCAR Services embarked on renovating the old Village Mall on Kingsley Avenue to convert into its new home for Lighthouse Learning Services.

30 Years ago, 1988
Clay County mourned the death of L.H. “Lanny” Lancaster, 66, of Green Cove Springs, former Supervisor of Elections and former member of the Board of County Commissioners.

Authorities in Marion County, Tennessee identified the body of missing Orange Park teen Kenneth Stanley Wyka, 17, of an Evergreen Lane address, who was believed to have been murdered. He was found behind a truck stop in Jasper, Tenn.

State Rep. Chance Irvine presented a proclamation signed by Gov. Bob Martinez that named the Middleburg Ham Jam the State of Florida’s Official Barbecue Cooking Contest. The festival was slated for October in downtown Middleburg as part of the Historic Middleburg Festival.

40 years ago, 1978
Employees of the Clay County Road and Bridge Department voted 38-32 to become members of the National Teamsters Union and would be locally represented by the Laundry and Dye House Workers Union.

Lorraine Wood and her family opened a new Badcock Furniture Store in Green Cove Springs.

Jacksonville City Council ignored a letter from Clay County that requested a meeting to discuss payments to Clay County for some 2,000 Jacksonville Electric Authority meters in the unincorporated parts of the county.