Five years ago, 2019

• The Clay Soil and Water Conservation District held its first-ever swearing-in ceremony for its four newly elected members. Today, the Clay Soil and Water Conservation District acts as a middleman between the industry and government agencies such as the Florida Forest Service, the St. Johns River Water Management District, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

• Pat Meeks, wife of then Orange Park Mayor Gary Meeks, finalized the sale of inherited land from her family to Clay County for use as a public park. The plot of land she sold, the plot of land she grew up on, would one day be known as “Rob Bradley Conservation Park at Nelson Point.”

10 years ago, 2014

• The Board of County Commissioners wrote a letter to the county’s Florida legislators condemning the controversial road fill material EZBase that JEA gave a Middleburg homeowner before he found the material contained toxins such as arsenic.

• The Clay County Sheriff's Office showed evidence that Ronnie Lee Stevens Jr. stole over $150,000 worth of jewelry while he conducted pest control

inspections in homes as an employee for his family’s business, Pest Xpress of Orange Park.

20 years ago, 2004

• The CBS TV Show “Survivor” held tryouts at Jacksonville’s Avenues Mall, in which many Clay County residents attempted to make the cut.

• During his reelection campaign, Clay County Sheriff Scott Lancaster was charged with misusing county funds for personal use. Subsequently, Lancaster was defeated by Sheriff Rick Beseler. Lancaster would eventually be brought on and then fired an investigator for sexually inappropriate remarks he made to several female coworkers.

30 years ago, 1994

• A 15-year-old Jacksonville teen was charged with exchanging gunfire with a Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy inside the food court at the Orange Park Mall using a .38-caliber handgun.

• An auctioneer helped sell off the remaining livestock at Wright’s Clay County Farms near Green Cove Springs after being in business just shy of 30 years.

40 years ago, 1984

• Town of Orange Park officials dedicated a tree in the honor of former mayor

James Lytle during a tree-planting ceremony marking its requalification as a Tree City USA.

• Actors at Orange Park Community Theatre prepared for a run of the Neil Simon play “The Gingerbread Lady” that was to be staged at the Orange Park Lions Club building.

50 years ago, 1984

• Moosehaven agreed to sell the Clay County School District 30 acres on Gano Avenue for $55 an acre to build a new elementary school in the district, Grove Park Elementary.

• Clay Co. Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Bill Hutchings reported that Tommy L. Dunham, 16, was shot in the head with a pistol on Washington Street in Green Cove Springs.