Five years ago, 2021

• Members from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office were joined by county officials, friends and family for the burial of CCSO Deputy Clint R. Seagle, who died of complications related to COVID-19.

• The Town of Orange Park celebrated the opening of a new playground at Clarke House.

• The Clay County School Board failed to vote to change its rules after more than a dozen parents asked the board to pass a mandate for masks at schools as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

10 years ago, 2016

• The Green Cove Springs City Council and the Green Cove Dragway agree to end Friday night racing after the council received numerous noise complaints.

• The Veterans Choice program worked to educate veterans about their benefits.

• A symposium at the Thrasher-Horne Center addressed the taboos, discourse and concerns with self-images and the feeling of inadequacy in their sense of masculinity and femineity related to a cancer diagnosis.

20 years ago, 2006

• The Clay County Sheriff’s Office charges Amos Blount Jr. with first-degree murder in the April 14, 2006, shooting death of Teresa Morente. A detective said Blount shot her with a .22 caliber handgun.

• The Orange Park Town Council presented a millage rate of 5.0 to set its budget at $17.5 million, which included a $400,000 plan to renovate Orange Park Skate Park.

• The Sept. 5 primary saw 25,617 Clay County voters cast ballots. The count represented a 22.84% turnout.

30 years ago, 1996

• Clay County Animal Control and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office seized 99 Pomeranian dogs that were hoarded at a Fleming Island home.

• Ten units from Clay County Fire Rescue and two from Orange Park responded to a fire at the Meninac Lodge at Camp Echockotee on Doctors Lake Drive in Orange Park.

• Nearly 30.2% of registered voters – 20,848 – cast ballots in the Sept. 3 primary.

40 years ago, 1986

• Kim D. Leinback of Coralville, Iowa, was hired as the city manager for Green Cove Springs.

• Virgil Fox, who represented J.P. Hall and Sons, asked the Green Cove Springs City Council to consider extending water lines down U.S. Highway 17 to Reynolds Industrial Park and Hall Park to accommodate a 300,000-400,000-square-foot food distribution facility that would create 200 new jobs.

• The Clay County School Board voted to approve a new teacher contract with a 7.83% pay increase, while administrators got a 7.7% bump and Superintendent Ann Wiggins saw her salary increased to $53,815.