Five years ago, 2020

• The Clay County School Board is starting its push to get a half-cent sales tax approved during the November General Election for longstanding repairs and the need for five to seven new schools in the next 10 years.

• The Clay County Economic Development Corporation receives a grant from the state to improve electric infrastructure in Green Cove Springs.

• Although Gov. Ron DeSantis orders Florida to move to Phase III of COVID-19 reopening, Superintendent of Schools David Broskie said it won’t apply to Clay County District Schools.

10 years ago, 2015

• Undersheriff Craig Aldrich files paperwork to join the race for Clay County Sheriff to run against Darryl Daniels and Harold Rutledge.

• Teyi Dzidzoe Lawson is sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder after a state psychological evaluation determined he was competent enough to understand the charges against him.

• The Clay County Board of County Commissioners moves a plan by the Berean Baptist Church on Fleming Island to allow it to be used as a charter school and dog resort.

20 years ago, 2005

• The Clay Board of County Commissioners selected Fritz A. Behring from a list of four finalists vying for the position of county manager. Behring was hired in the wake of the county’s illegal dumping scandal that involved both state and federal investigations.

• A Clay County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team was called to a home in Oakleaf, where Michael Jenkins, 33, was holed up, threatening to kill his wife, Felecia Jenkins, 31. After negotiations failed, he killed his wife, then himself.

• Sheriff Rick Beseler demoted Sgt. Dan Mahla and Det. David Vaughan for soliciting an undercover Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office vice detective who was posing as a prostitute.

30 Years Ago, 1995

• The Green Cove Springs Police Department charged Ronnie Dean Battles, 41, of Green Cove Springs on charges of armed kidnapping and sexual battery of a 21-year-old man, police said.

• Neil Edwin Cook, 30, of Middleburg, was sentenced to one year of probation for manslaughter after being accused of giving his brother a .357-magnum revolver he used to kill himself.

• Residents of Green Cove Springs were put on a mandatory boil water alert after a six-inch water main broke at the intersection of Spring Street and Magnolia Avenue.

40 Years Ago, 1985

• The Clay County Board of County Commissioners selected John Bowles as interim county administrator while the board searched to replace outgoing Charles Rosebrough. Bowles would work with Rosebrough to ensure a smooth transition out of the job for Rosebrough.

 • Club Continental in Orange Park played host to a film crew from CBS Television for five days. The crew filmed the TV movie “Intimate Strangers” co-starring Stacy Keach at the club.

• Ronald M. Wilcox, 33, of Jacksonville, was handed two life sentences and an additional 25 years in prison for the abduction and rape of a Middleburg woman.