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This Week in History 8/23/18


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5 years ago, 2013
Torey Leonard Jenkins of Jacksonville received a 40-year sentence in state prison for the September 17, 2009 death of 16-month-old Destiny Patterson whom Jenkins had been babysitting at the toddler’s mother’s home in the Oakleaf community.

Peter G. Scalzo of Sarasota, Florida signed an $800-per event lease at Reynolds Industrial Park to create the Green Cove Dragway on one-eighth of a mile on the abandoned north-south runway of the former Lee Naval Air Field.

A Clay County Grand Jury indicted Adrian Bernard Seward, 44, was indicted for first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon for the July 25 murder of his ex-wife,
Lashawna Lynn Criswell-Seward, whose body was found on the doorstep of her neighbor’s house in the 3700 block of Pondview Drive in Oakleaf.

10 years ago, 2008

Clay Board of County Commissioners Chairman George Bush announced he would run for Supervisor of Elections in the aftermath of SOE Barbara Kirkman announcing her retirement.

Clay County Manager Fritz Behring told Green Cove Springs business leaders that Geo Group was scouting an area at the Clay-Putnam County line to build a private prison that would create 500 new jobs.

The Clay County School District celebrated the new school year with the opening of two new elementary schools, Shadowlawn Elementary near Penney Farms and Oakleaf Village Elementary.

20 years ago, 1998
A Clay County jury convicted Gene W. Higginbotham Jr. of Middleburg of four counts of DUI manslaughter and three counts of serious bodily injury for a drunk driving crash that claimed four lives on August 22, 1997 at Hall and Boree Road and State Road 21.

For the first time in 14 years, Green Cove Springs City Council voted to hike the millage rate. The millage jumped from 2.611 to 3.2 and water, wastewater and solid waste bills would jump an average of $6.31 per month.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office investigated a break-in at the Black Heritage Education Center in Middleburg’s Hilltop Community. The former one-room school house for black children suffered thousands of dollars in damage and was ransacked.

30 Years ago, 1988
Pledging to expand vocational programs, creating an alternative school and opportunities to develop more merit scholars, Ann Wiggins announced she would run for a second term as Superintendent of Schools.

Once an attraction for tourists seeking to soak in the city’s Sulphur spring, the old Cherokee Hotel at the corner of Center and Magnolia Streets in Green Cove Springs was demolished after being condemned.

The Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 to fund a traffic study for The Crossings Development of Regional Impact on Fleming Island after residents complained that the project – the future Eagle Harbor – would create unprecedented traffic problems for the island.


40 years ago, 1978
Orange Park Town Manager Richard Fellows presented town council with a budget that had an 8.2 percent dip in expenses as projected revenues were expected to drop 11.5 percent in the coming year.

The Clay County Grand Jury indicted Orange Park High student Richard Keith Garner, 17, for three counts of armed robbery for holding up three different convenience stores.

The 1978-79 school year opened with 16,541 students, with Orange Park High hitting a record enrollment of 2,775 students compared to Clay High’s 980.