5 years ago, 2012
Clay County School Board Member Janice Kerekes offered an emergency item on the agenda to allow voters to decide whether to elect the school superintendent or have the board hire one in the wake of the August primary in which political rival Charlie Van Zant Jr. was elected.

Green Cove Springs City Council voted to raise water rates for residents. An average water bill would go up 71-cents a month, from $23.40 to $24.11 beginning Oct. 1 under the proposal.

Lynyrd Skynyrd held a CD release and signing event for the long-awaited release of “Last of a Dyin Breed” at the Blanding Boulevard Walmart store.

10 years ago, 2007
The Clay County School Board voted 4-1 to approve a 7.5 percent hike in the salary schedule for district administrators, including $139,000 for the superintendent and up to $109,569 for school principals.

Volunteers in Policing Services canvassed Fleming Island neighborhoods to provide community education about home safety in the wake of a spate of car burglaries and home break-ins.

The Barco-Newton YMCA on Fleming Island broke ground for a $500,000 Daystar facility to provide services to adults with intellectual disabilities. The center would be patterned after the original Daystar on the Moody Avenue campus of the Dye-Clay YMCA.

20 years ago, 1997
Although the Medical Examiner’s report was not complete, Green Cove Springs Police Chief Gail Russell said it appeared foul play was involved the death of Mildretta Messer, 57, of Green Cove Springs. Messer had been missing for five days when her body was pulled from the St. Johns River.

A car salesman at Sunrise Nissan on Wells Road was car-jacked by two men after a test drive of a 1994 Chevrolet Camaro. The driver – Kyson W. Moore, 18, of Hartford City, Indiana – was reportedly wanted in Indiana for stealing a car there.

Four units from Clay County Fire Rescue responded to seven arson fires in a two-hour span in which dumpsters were set on fire at businesses on Blanding Boulevard.

30 years ago, 1987
A three-month investigation by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office ended in the arrests of Ronnie David Smith, George Andrew Smith, and Tony Adam Wills, all of Lake Geneva, on charges of distribution of pornography, dealing stolen property and narcotics.

In an effort to keep its local hospital, Clay Memorial Hospital in Green Cove Springs announced the formation of a hospital auxiliary to get community members involved in volunteering.

Gov. Bob Martinez came to Orange Park to meet with 9-year-old Michele Perry to calm her fears of losing her doctor’s services due to rising malpractice insurance rates. Perry had had 18 surgeries up to that point.

40 years ago, 1977
The Florida Department of Transportation began assessing $300 a day fines to Dickerson Inc. of Monroe, N.C. for every day work was not completed on widening a 3-mile section of Blanding Boulevard from I-295 to Robin Road.

Although there was no electricity, no plumbing or telephone service, the Clay County School Superintendent Jesse P. Tynes Jr. swore Montclair Elementary would be ready for students the first day of school on August 22, 1977.

State prisoners Jasper Ray Kirtsey, 21, and Ronald David Pugh, 20, both of Jacksonville, pled not guilty to charges of escape, robbery and kidnapping after escaping from a work detail in Green Cove Springs and going on a crime spree.