Five years ago, 2018

• Clay County District Schools achieved a graduation rate greater than 90% for the first time in the county’s history, according to the Florida Department of Education.

• The No. 1 story selected for the year of 2018 was when a Clay County Grand Jury indicted four people for the 2016 first-degree pre-meditated murder of Kolton T. Shearer, 18, of Middleburg. Shearer was fatally shot in the abdomen while inside a home at 1956 County Road 16A during a reported robbery at about 2 a.m.

10 years ago, 2013

• Clay County School District officials celebrated news that Orange Park High had earned an “A” grade from the state, the first time since the state began its grading system in 1999.

• Clay County officials conducted an inventory audit at the Clerk of Court office after the firing and arrest of former information technology director Michael John Hamilton of Lake Asbury, who was charged with grand theft, dealing stolen property and giving false verification of ownership after allegedly stealing computers at his job.

20 years ago, 2003

• Clay County Sheriff’s Office investigators asked for the public’s help with information that could lead to the arrest in a case involving $1,950 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets from Cheap Butts and Suds on Knight Boxx Road.

• VyStar Credit Union opened its full-service branch in Middleburg.

30 years ago, 1993

• The Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 to have the Florida Legislature pass a bill creating an independent county-wide water and sewer authority. The proposal would pave the way for the creation of the Clay County Utility Authority.

• The National Wild Turkey Federation offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest in the deaths of two hunters that occurred the previous month.