MIDDLEBURG – Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook had two messages for anyone responsible for leaving sand-filled plastic bags with a racist message in several driveways last week. First, she said her agency won’t tolerate bigoted behavior and she assured residents living near Middleburg High that the sand inside the baggies wasn’t laced with fentanyl.

“If you’re the person who did that you wasted your time,” she said. “Let me just say this: we’re not going to tolerate that here in Clay County. And I’m not going to allow your racial propaganda and hate messages to seep into our wonderful, wonderful community. If you’re one of the folks that receive that, I’m sorry. Unfortunately, there’s people out there that waste their time doing things like this.”

Residents living off County Road 220 woke up Sunday to find baggies in their lawns. Inside, there also was the following message: “Wake up white man, your race is being replaced. Stop race mixing, stop immigration, and white man created civilization and everything good in it.”

Cook said anyone in the neighborhood with doorbell surveillance video that may depict the suspect to call the Clay County Sheriff’s Office at (904) 264-6512.

She also discounted social media posts that the baggies contained fentanyl.

“Social media is very valuable and very powerful. Before you post something, make sure it’s accurate before you share something, make sure it’s accurate,” Cook said. “There’s a time and a place to be concerned. And although these hate messages are unacceptable and they’re not going to be tolerated and we’re looking into it.

“There is no fentanyl in these baggies so there’s no concern. If I found something like this in my driveway, I’d probably use gloves or something that pick it up, throw it away. But again, there’s no fentanyl, these baggies that and I just want to make that very clear.”

The sheriff’s office is investigating the incident.