5 years ago, 2012
Family and friends of Army Staff Sgt. Dick Alson Lee Jr., 31, of Keystone Heights held a memorial honoring his service a week after he was killed by an improvised explosive device on April 26, while he and his bomb-detecting dog were working with Special Forces in Ghazni province, Afghanistan.

After seeing a one-month spike from 13 to 36 cases of children endangered by drug-related issues in Clay County, the Department of Children and Families rallied with other local stakeholders to find creative solutions to stem the problem.

10-year-old Paul Piner of Fleming Island was busy preparing to take part in the 6-week Bolshoi Ballet Summer Dance Intensive program in Middlebury, Conn. where he would train with Master Teachers from Moscow’s famed Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

10 years ago, 2007
The Clay County Planning Commission voted 5-2 to allow a 3.5-acre site at the corner of Creighton Road and U.S. Highway 17 South be rezoned to allow a real estate office be built on the site.

S. Bryan Jennings Elementary School Principal Lee Oliver was promoted to the director of elementary education for the Clay County School District.

Clay County Habitat for Humanity dedicated three new homes on Forbes Street in Green Cove Springs.

20 years ago, 1997
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office used boats and 4-wheel drive vehicles to help provide emergency services to residents along Black Creek who were hit by record-setting flooding.

Walt Disney World honored three Clay County students with “Dreamers and Doers” gold medals for overcoming adversity. Robert L. Griffin of Keystone Heights, who had muscular dystrophy, Jacqueline R. Postma of Orange Park, who has tranverse myelitis and Howell B. Hollis of Orange Park who overcame blindness to earn a red belt in Tae Kwan Do.

Quigley House, Clay County’s shelter for victims of sexual abuse and violence, won $10,000 and the 1997 Paul E. Reinhold Community Service Award.

30 years ago, 1987
The Board of County Commissioners would discuss a proposal by Osage City, Kan.-based Hurst Communications to become the county’s second cable television franchise.

Retired U.S. Navy veteran Lynn Grafel took over as executive vice president of the Clay County Chamber of Commerce.

The Board of County Commissioners and Florida Department of Transportation discussed splitting the costs of a $45,000 master plan for transforming the old Navy airstrip at Reynolds Industrial Park into a Clay County airport.

40 years ago, 1977
16-year-old Tina Weaver of Middleburg won first place in the welding competition in the Industrial Arts District competition where she out-welded six boys, securing her a trip to compete at state.

The Orange Park Town Council was to consider buying 36 acres of wooded property near Montclair Elementary School for $2,500 in hopes of creating a new city park.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office investigated the beating death of three-year-old Joseph L. Tabor of Middleburg who died at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Jacksonville from blunt force trauma.