Five years ago, 2019

• Clay County Animal Services celebrated finding homes for 347 pets during July. The adoptions included 120 dogs and 227 cats. They went home to new families in as healthy, neutered, microchipped and vaccinated pets.
• Orange Park Medical Center unveiled an interactive memorial wall in the center of its main hallway. The names of 20 organ donors covered the left side of the memorial, and a screen told some of their stories.
• Andrew R. Leslie, of Middleburg, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role as one of the administrators of a highly sophisticated dark web network dedicated to the sexual abuse of children. Leslie already had been sentenced to 60 years for exploiting a 2-year-old and a toddler for pornography at his Middleburg home in March 2018.

10 years ago, 2014

• Judge Mark Borello said he would decide if the Clay County School Board would get an injunction against the Board of County Commissioners’ decision to move a referendum on whether the superintendent should be appointed or elected to the 2016 general election.
• The Orange Park Performing Arts Academy, Clay County's first charter school, opened its doors for the first time on the first day of school. Five years later, the academy was evicted from its location due to $150,000 in unpaid rent. 
• Orange Park’s budget and financing committee proposed 10 cost-cutting recommendations, including reducing trash pickup to one day a week, to fill in a $467,000 hole in the budget.

20 years ago, 2004

• The Clay County Sheriff’s Office investigated the death of 36-year-old Jon Robert Chappell who was struck and killed by an Amtrak passenger train. The train was traveling north out of Green Cove Springs.
• Officials announced the 17th Annual Ham Jam would move to Jacksonville’s Equestrian Center after being bounced from its original location at Spencer’s Farm in Middleburg.
• Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts announced it would host an exhibit of 30 hand-picked photographs by artist Jack Mitchell.

30 years ago, 1994

• Tynes Elementary School opened for the 1994-1995 school year. Named after former School Superintendent Jesse Tynes, the school opened with 800 students and 45 teachers.
• Donna Ringoringo of Houston went on a hunger strike before the Clay County Courthouse in Green Cove Springs. She was protesting a judge’s decision to leave a 6-year-old boy in his mother’s custody, saying she was concerned for the child’s welfare.
• A plan to construct the controversial Blueberry Plantation on Fleming Island was put on hold by the Board of County Commissioners. Opponents of the Planned Unit Development said building 171 homes on the 61.93-acre tract would violate current density regulations and lower adjacent property values.

40 years ago, 1984

• Architect F. R. McCully assured Clay County School District officials the new Clay Hill Elementary School would be completed in time for the opening of the 1974-75 school year.
• Orange Park Town Council members voiced their concerns over a four-cent gas tax passed by the Clay County Board of Commissioners. Orange Park Mayor Bruce Hance said the county approved the tax without input from the town.
• The Florida Highway Patrol told Clay residents that a 50-gallon diesel fuel spill into Black Creek was not dangerous. The spill occurred when a 40-foot trawler sank in 10 feet of water about three miles west of Blanding Boulevard, not far from the Middleburg Black Creek boat ramp.

50 years ago, 1974

• The Clay County Historical Society announced plans to establish a Clay County Historical Museum inside the old clerk of court offices in the Historic Courthouse in Green Cove Springs. 
• State Rep. Frank Williams(D-25) was struck by lightning while standing near a metal pole at a Democratic Party rally in Keystone Heights. A witness told police she saw a transformer blow out and Williams hit the ground. He was transported to the Bradford County Hospital.
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