Five years ago, 2021

• Food Truck Friday returns to Spring Park after taking a year off for the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was greeted with a maximum of 25 trucks and an enthusiastic crowd.

• Joelle Marquis is elected to the Clay Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors.

• Despite the pandemic, the Orange Park Mall reports a 99% occupancy rate and an employment of nearly 3,000 people.

10 years ago, 2016

• The Clay County Sheriff’s Office says James Cameau, 34, went home during his lunch hour from the Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue, retrieved a handgun, and returned to the hotel and pointed the gun at 11 co-workers before killing himself.

• The Clay County Education Foundation files an unfair labor practice complaint against Superintendent Charlie Van Zant and the school board after Van Zant sent teachers an email about ongoing contract negotiations, although neither were supposed to divulge details.

• The Florida Department of Transportation will spend $15-$20 million on a road project to widen U.S. Highway 17 near Wells Road and Interstate 295 that will save 10,000 driving hours for commuters.

20 years ago, 2006

• The Clay County Sheriff’s Office charges Carson Wayne Parson, 42, of Jacksonville, with attempted murder after he reportedly fired several shots from a handgun into a home off Evergreen Lane in Middleburg.

• The county boards of commissioners from Clay and St. Johns counties meet in a joint workshop to discuss the proposed route for the First Coast Expressway. They agree to support a route south of the existing Shands Bridge.

• Clay County Fire Rescue says Linda Sinclair, 44, died in a house fire on Carmel Court due to careless smoking.

30 years ago, 1996

• The Board of County Commissioners votes to file dual lawsuits against the City of Green Cove Springs and its Zoning Adjustment Board in wake of the board’s denial of a variance that would allow the sheriff to expand the county jail.

• Clay Today announces it would cease publishing five days a week to publishing on a twice weekly schedule.

• Tom and Donna Richard's plan to transport a Victorian home built in 1864 from Lake George via a barge to Green Cove Springs causes residents to become involved. They were opposed to the couple having trees removed at the Green Cove Springs home site.

40 years ago, 1986

• As it prepares to hold its inaugural Freedom Fund event, Clay County NAACP President Isaac Brown says the chapter membership has increased to a record 60 members.

• Green Cove Springs City Council announces that restrooms at Spring Park may soon be getting a makeover using funds from the Florida Department of Natural Resources’ Recreation Development Assistance Program.

• Jennifer Moeller, 12, an eighth grader at Orange Park Christian Academy, spelled “faddist” to win the Clay County Spelling Bee, earning a trip to the regional competition in Jacksonville.