Five years ago, 2019

• Clay Today covered the torrid affair between Sheriff Darryl Daniels and JSO's Cierra Smith.  Daniels made a public apology of the six-year affair he had with Smith, a woman who was a subordinate and 27 years younger. Smith said Daniels gave her more than $30,000 during their relationship.

• In a 3-2 vote, the Board of County Commissioners selected former NAS-Jacksonville Commanding Officer and automotive executive Howard Wanamaker to be the new county manager. 

• In a 4-1 vote, Orange Park Town Council elected Connie Thomas as the new mayor. A year prior, Thomas accused council members of gender discrimination after Former Mayor Gary Meeks nominated Ron Raymond to be vice-mayor.   

• A woman was struck and killed by an Amtrak train near Russell Road and Dairy Lane.

10 years ago, 2014

•  Lt. Patrick Golemme, of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Juvenile Crimes Section, said seven portable buildings at Plantation Oaks Elementary were vandalized.  Additionally, the second-grade hallway had windows broken and the fire extinguishers were expelled both in the hallways and in the cafeteria, he said.

• The Town of Orange Park is told it needs to spend an additional $18,256 for repairs to the T.C. Miller Center and to expand the center’s parking lot.

•  A retired Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy died following a one-vehicle accident on State Road 13, just north of River Oaks Drive in St. Johns County.  Police said Robert Boykin’s vehicle struck a metal guardrail and two trees before coming to final rest.

20 years ago, 2004

• Officials with the Jacksonville-based Girl Scouts of Gateway Council held an open house on the grounds of what would become its North Fork Leadership Center on the north fork of Black Creek in Middleburg. The event aimed to welcome the community and raise awareness about the service organization.

• Clay County Sheriff’s Office investigators responded to the Wells Road Target store, where they found the body of a man they believed fell through the tarp-like material above the store’s garden center. Officials believed the man, who did not have any identification in his possession, planned to burglarize the store.

•  Green Cove Springs City Council held a record six-hour meeting where they wrangled over electric utility rates and whether to pull out of the Florida Municipal Power Agency

30 years ago, 1994

• Advocates for Children’s Education held an open forum to discuss a proposed ballot initiative to have voters decide on whether the Clay County School Superintendent should be appointed or elected. Thirty years later, the superintendent is an elected position. 

•  Residents of Green Cove Springs spoke out against a Board of County Commissioners plan to increase the Rosemary Hill Landfill by 420 acres.

40 years ago, 1984

• Officials at the Clay County Sheriff’s Office destroyed $140,000 worth of marijuana confiscated in arrests during the previous 18 months. The 320 pounds of pot, along with 10 grams of cocaine and 2,100 prescription pills were incinerated at a secure facility at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.

• School Superintendent Jesse Tynes called on recruiting volunteers from the U.S. Navy who were proficient in math and science to help Clay County students improve in those areas.

50 years ago, 1974

• Greater Orange Park Community Hospital named R. Edward Simpson of Orange Park, a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant, as its new comptroller.

•  The Green Cove Springs Police Department arrested six people in a gambling operation at Randy’s Barber Shop on Middleburg Avenue in the city.

•  Officials with Penney Retirement Community broke ground on a new $198,718 residential care facility, which would include 16 two-room apartments for PRC residents.