Five years ago, 2019

• Mayor Karen Lake of Keystone Heights surprised the city council members when she presented a privately funded city-wide survey she organized. Lake cited the survey results as her rationale for denying City Manager Scott Kornegay a salary raise. In a 4-1 decision, Kornegay was granted the 3% raise anyway, and Lake was the dissenting vote.
• The Board of County Commissioners denied approving the school board’s half-cent sales tax resolution, saying it was concerned about the timing of the request and a lack of transparency on how the $300 million proposal would be spent.
• The first phase of the First Coast Expressway, connecting Blanding Boulevard to Interstate 10, began collecting tolls on July 13. 
• A former Orange Park and Clay High teacher was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography. Christopher S. Potter, who used the screen name "Mr. Fireball," attempted to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex with an undercover officer using the Kik app. 

10 years ago, 2014

• The southern end of Chaffee Road connecting to State Road 23 was closed as a part of the Florida Department of Transportation’s First Coast Expressway Project
• Clay High junior Dakota Mahaffey became the fastest 16-year-old backstroke swimmer in the U.S. with his best 100-meter backstroke at the prestigious Bulldog Classic Swim Invitational at the University of Georgia.
• An internal investigation of how the Clay County Sheriff's Office could arrest the wrong woman twice in five months ended with four suspensions and new procedures at the agency. Sheriff Rick Beseler said sloppy police work was the root cause.

20 years ago, 2004

• Officials with Clay County Fire Rescue donated a decommissioned 1981 GMC fire truck to a Panhandle’s Calhoun County fire department. The 1,000-gallon-a-minute pumper was a big boost for the Kinard Volunteer Fire Department.
• Clay County Habitat for Humanity held a parking lot party to raise awareness and recruit volunteers to help build homes for the less fortunate.
• Clay County authorities investigated an apparent hit-and-run accident that claimed the life of Jason Simmons, 22, of Orange Park.

30 years ago, 1994

• Sheriff Scott Lancaster and staff celebrated the opening of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office Middleburg sub-station at 1836 Blanding Blvd.
• After three court trials, Assistant State Attorney Tim Collins announced he would not try Andre Clemons of Jacksonville a fourth time for murder. Clemons was charged with killing Kevin Eugene Baker, 29 while robbing a Winn Dixie store in 1991.
• An investigation into possible theft involving the Clay County Sheriff’s Explorer Post led to the arrest of Frank Joseph Spanarelli on grand theft charges. Spanarelli also was fired from his job as a corrections officer at the county jail.

40 years ago, 1984

• The Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution allowing voters to decide whether to continue prohibiting Sunday sales of alcoholic beverages on the fall election ballot.
• Authorities charged Robert Joseph Wasdin, 19, of Orange Park, with one count of attempted murder after allegedly stabbing Johnny Lynch, 19, of Orange Park, multiple times.
• Headline proclaimed: “Clay County isn’t ready for disaster,” as state officials listed Clay County as a risk-host area by the Division of Emergency Management in Tallahassee.

50 years ago, 1974

• The Clay County School Board awarded People’s Construction Company of Jacksonville a contract for $877,327 to construct a Vocational Technical Center on the campus of Orange Park High School.
• School district officials also learned that previous estimates of $2.1 million may not be enough to construct Orange Park Middle School “D.” Officials say the construction costs may run as high as $2.5 million.
• Detectives with the Starke Police Department arrested Billy Ray Wilson, 26, of Trion, Georgia, for the shooting death of John Clark, 31, of Middleburg. Wilson was charged with first-degree murder for the shooting that took place in Starke.