Clear, 72°
Weather sponsored by:

This Week in History

Posted 1/16/25

Five years ago, 2020 • Clay County District Schools celebrate a record 91.9% graduation rate, a 17.7% improvement rate compared to 2010. • Keystone Heights City and Clay County Sheriff’s Office …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

This Week in History


Posted

Five years ago, 2020

• Clay County District Schools celebrate a record 91.9% graduation rate, a 17.7% improvement rate compared to 2010.

• Keystone Heights City and Clay County Sheriff’s Office officials go door-to-door to dispel rumors of a fight club near Keystone Heights Elementary.

• Gary and Pat Meeks donated 10 acres on Doctors Lake and joined Florida Sen. Rob Bradley to unveil Rob Bradley Conservation Park to honor his tireless work for the county.

 

10 years ago, 2015

• Former Clay County School Board candidate Sandra Dunnavant agrees to pay the Clay Family Policy Forum $15,000 and formally apologizes after falsely claiming the group altered the voter guide survey delivered to churches and mailed out before the November 4 election.

• For Clay High football player Cliff Avril helped the Seattle Seahawks move one step closer to the Super Bowl with a sack of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton in a 31-17 victory. Seattle will play Green Bay next, with the winner moving on to the Super Bowl.

• County Commissioners discussed adding lights at the Oakleaf Athletic Association fields and Clay County Soccer Club fields, making improvements at the Fleming Island Baseball Park and a Fleming Island Athletic Association construction project.

 

20 years ago, 2005

• Orange Park Fire Chief Ty Silcox urged residents to go online to sign up for Nixie.com, a free community information service the department used to send out emergency alerts.

• The Clay County Sheriff’s Office retrieved a floating body from the St. Johns River near Governors Creek in Green Cove Springs and sent it to the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death.

• The Orange Park Police Department investigated a shooting at the Community Behavioral Services when OPPD officer David Coles shot Timothy Allala, an employee with the town’s Public Works Department, after Allala pointed a gun at the officer.

 

30 years ago, 1995

• Retired educator-turned-realtor Charles N. Turner announces he will run for Superintendent against incumbent Phyllis May.

• Former Clay County Sheriff Dalton Bray was hired as the Orange Park office staff assistant for Rep. Cliff Stearns.

• Kathy Boatwright, girls basketball coach at Keystone Heights High, notches her 400th career win to become the third woman in Florida to reach that milestone.

 

40 years ago, 1985

• Judge William Wilkes swears in Ann Wiggins as the county’s first woman school Superintendent. The former schoolteacher defeated 20-year incumbent Jesse P. Tynes Jr., a Democrat.

• John Emory Bell, 52, of Green Cove Springs, died when he was struck by a train while walking northbound in the middle of the tracks between Walburg and Houston streets.

• The Town of Orange Park was designated at Tree City USA by the Nebraska City, Nebraska-based National Arbor Day Foundation. County Forester Bill Rutherford presented Orange Park Mayor Hance Bruce with a Tree City USA flag and a tree to plant on town property.