Five years ago, 2021

• Niagara Bottling announced it would open a manufacturing facility in Middleburg that will bring 55 new jobs.

• The USA Cycling Amateur National Championships continued at Camp Blanding and near Fleming Island.

• The Veteran Enforcer Motorcycle Association rode on Thursdays to bring attention to veterans’ needs.

10 years ago, 2016

• The Urban Bean Coffeehouse Café in Orange Park faced undue backlash from Donald Trump supporters following a negative national news story about a coffeehouse of the same name in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• Some of the residents forced to leave the Parkway Inn in Orange Park said some of the stories about drug and prostitution arrests were “greatly exaggerated” after the hotel was ordered to close.

• Local officials joined Sage Development Group to break ground on a new assisted living facility on East-West Parkway called The Seagrass Village.

20 years ago, 2006

• The Charter Review Commission voted to pass on the Board of County Commissioners’ four ballot questions by changing the county charter. One item, if approved, would have expanded the BCC from five seats to seven.

• After months of negotiations with homebuilder LandMar, the Clay County School Board voted to accept $2.5 million in fees that was used to build new schools needed by the buildout of Saratoga Springs, a 4,300-home planned community.

• The St. Johns River Water Management District installed a 2,500-foot deep well on the property inside the Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park north of Keystone Heights. The well monitored the Floridan Aquifer, the region’s primary source of water.

30 years ago, 1996

• The Green Cove Springs Fire Department’s hazmat team joined local law enforcement and state officials to close off a section of U.S. Highway 17 after a tanker truck spilled approximately 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

• The Clay County District School’s Citizen Advisory Committee, chaired by Gayward Hendry, approved a proposal to move the district to block scheduling after hearing presentations from Keystone Heights Principal Tina Bullock and Orange Park High Principal Sam Ward.

• Walter Brock, director of instructional services for the Clay County District Schools, said $1.3 million in federal funds would help support Title 1 programs at six Clay elementary schools.

40 years ago, 1986

• Dolores Dolan of Keystone Heights sustained internal bleeding after being dragged by her car and pinned against an able-the-ground swimming pool after her 20-month-old grandson found a way to start the car.

• Lenore M. McCullagh of Orange Park received a $1,000 award as the recipient of the Feinstone Environmental Award by the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

• James B. Jett, 33, chairman of the BCC, announced he would seek a second term as a Democrat.