Five years ago, 2020 

• The Salvation Army presses ahead with its Angel Tree and Red Kettle programs despite the challenges of Hurricane Irma flooding, the COVID-19 pandemic and a broken pipe at its Clay County headquarters in Middleburg that flooded 75% of its building. 

• The Way Medical Clinic announces it will build an expanded 5,100-square-foot clinic and offer dental care across from St. Johns River State College on College Drive. 

• Ascension St. Vincent’s Clay distributes 400 meals on Thanksgiving and, with the help of the Green Cove Springs and Orange Park police departments and Clay County Sheriff’s Office, delivers them to needy families. 

10 years ago, 2015 

• The Board of County Commission gets heated when Vice Chairman Ronnie Robinson is passed over by fellow commissioners in favor of Diane Hutchings for the chairmanship for the 2015-16 year. 

• Fresh Market announces its plan to open a grocery store on Fleming Island. 

• Wilkinson Elementary wins a $5,000 wellness grant from the National Football League and the Florida Dairy Council as part of the “Defend Your Turf Challenge.” 

20 years ago, 2005 

• About 130 Bear Run residents pack the cafeteria at Ridgeview High seeking answers about a proposed multi-family apartment complex planned for that subdivision’s entryway. Continental Properties proposed to build 300-325 apartments on 22 acres. 

• Clay County Sheriff’s Office drug investigators report finding the county’s first methamphetamine lab at a mobile home on Duckweed Place in Middleburg. Police charge Roger Snyder with manufacturing methamphetamine. 

• Clay County District Schools announces that the Oakleaf School, the county’s only K-8 school, would open in the fall of 2006 with 64 portable classrooms due to rapid housing growth. 

30 Years Ago, 1995 

• The Clay County Board of County Commissioners enter into a mediated settlement of $138,000 with the Reinhold Corporation for a tract of land the county annexed from the company adjacent to the Rosemary Hill Landfill. 

• The BCC present Marta Jackson with a resolution supporting the Clay Ballet Theatre’s production of “The Nutcracker” that would be performed at the University of North Florida’s Robinson Theatre that month. 

• Clay County School Superintendent Phyllis May urges members of the Clay County Legislative Delegation to change the state’s funding formula for education. She said the current model ranks Clay last in the state. 

40 Years Ago, 1985 

• The Florida Highway Patrol continues to search for a hit-and-run driver who killed William Charles Masone, 27, of Middleburg, who was struck from behind while riding a motorcycle on County Road 220. 

• The Clay County Board of County Commissioners vote 5-0 to contract with Refuse Services Inc. to manage the Rosemary Hill Landfill, as well as the county’s other solid waste transfer stations.

• The Orange Park Rotary Club donates funds to the Orange Park Library for the purchase of a V-Tek Voyager I talking-book system that allowed visually impaired and blind library guests to enjoy books.