This Week In History 12/6/18

5 years ago, 2013
Orange Park Town Council passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale of e-cigarettes to minors by requiring shops to place the products behind the checkout counter and prohibited them from being sold in end-cap displays.

Wendell Davis was voted chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, while Diane Hutchings was elected vice chairman.

Rory Eggers, chief operating officer of Foremost Liquors & Wines in Orange Park, was named chairman of the Florida Retail Federation’s Retail Beverage Council, the statewide trade association that represents Florida’s alcohol beverage retailers.

10 years ago, 2008
A unanimous decision by the First District Court of Appeal ruled that Rob Bradley and Diane Hutchings would be prohibited from being sworn in to a newly-expanded 7-member Clay County Board of County Commissioners.

Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler was joined by Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford and State Attorney Angela Corey in a press conference announcing a new “Cops Without Borders” crime-fighting initiative that used the slogan “Duval or Clay, we’ll catch you either way!” on area billboards.

After almost 20 years in the new car sales business Frank Griffin Jeep and Chrysler announced it would cease selling new cars from its Wells Road location.

20 years ago, 1998
For the first time, Clay Today published as a weekly paper.

Clay County relished in the news of former Clay County School Board Member John Thrasher being sworn in as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

Green Cove Springs City Council Member Diane Hutchings joined Orange Park Town Council Member Phyllis Renninger in considering building skateboard parks in each respective town.

30 Years ago, 1988
Former Clay County Administrator John Bowles was named Public Works Director for the Town of Orange Park.

Meinhardt Raabe, and his wife, residents of Penney Retirement Community, served as Grand Marshals of the Green Cove Springs Christmas parade. Raabe played the munchkin coroner in “The Wizard of Oz” who pronounced the death of the Wicked Witch of the East.

Clay County citizens concerned about the location of the southern leg of the proposed Outer Beltway held a prayer meeting at Orange Avenue Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs.

40 years ago, 1978
Archaeologist Curtiss Peterson of the Florida Division of Archives, History and Records Management traveled to Keystone Heights where he met with John Bowles, Clay County Public Works director, to unearth two canoes found at the bottom of area lakes there.

Members of the Duval County Legislative Delegation claimed they were misled by Rep. Frank Williams(D-Starke) – who represented Clay County in Tallahassee – in passing legislation allowing Clay County to annex a 194-acre tract from Duval into Clay in 1972.

Following guidance from the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, the Clay Board of County Commissioners fielded a $1.8 million proposal to build a centralized wastewater treatment plant to encompass the City of Green Cove Springs and 220 acres south of the city.