This Week In History

5 Years Ago, 2011

Haven Hospice of Gainesville held a groundbreaking ceremony on a seven-acre parcel of land along Blanding Boulevard where it would build its 18-bed Custead Care Center.

The Board of County Commissioners faced a $3 million budget shortfall if they kept the budget at 7.45 mills in the wake of decreasing home values in the Great Recession. They passed a tentative tax rate of 7.85 mills.

W.E. Cherry Elementary School students, faculty and staff gathered on school grounds and formed the number 50 in celebration of the school’s 50th birthday.

10 Years Ago, 2006

The Florida Department of Transportation held a public meeting to go over the final details of a long-awaited plan to widen to six lanes the Doctors Lake Bridge. The 1,825-foot bridge project would begin November 2007.

Board of County Commissioners member Harold Rutledge held town hall meetings in Orange Park, Fleming Island Middleburg and Keystone Heights all on the same Saturday.

The Orange Park Town Council voted to give four percent raises to its public works and non-union employees, while giving a three percent raise to Orange Park Police Department officers.

20 Years Ago, 1996

After returning from competing in the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, LeAnn Shannon of Orange Park was presented a key to the City of Jacksonville by Genesis Rehabilitation Services. She won one silver medal and three gold medals.

The Clay County Strategic Planning Environmental and Safety Action Team recommended that the Clay County School District develop a live-in security guard program at 15 of its 18 elementary schools.

Keystone Heights City Council member Bill Beam asked that $171,000 first set aside for road and drainage improvements be placed back in the draft budget. However, the city would use Community Development Block Grant funds – not taxpayer funds – to pave and repave a long list of streets and roads.

30 Years Ago, 1986

County Commissioner Larry Lancaster asked County Administrator John Bowles to seek Florida Department of Transportation assistance to construct a turn lane from northbound Blanding Boulevard eastbound on to Kingsley Avenue.

The Clay County Chamber of Commerce and the Clay County Public Libraries prepared for a 25th anniversary party for the library system that included a Spring Park performance by the St. Johns River City Band.

On a 4-1 vote, the Board of County Commissioners ended the practice of sending unwanted cats and dogs from the Clay County Animal Control Center to be used in research at the University of Florida.

40 Years Ago, 1976

The Florida Highway Patrol said Jack Dockery of Palatka was driving 80 miles per hour when his truck struck an overpass on U.S. Highway 17, two miles south of Green Cove Springs. The truck’s engine was found 200 feet from the vehicle, while Dockery’s body was ejected 40 feet.

The Clay County Planning, Zoning and Building Commission denied a request from Middleburg restaurant Pit Barbeque on Blanding Boulevard to serve alcohol on grounds no one appeared to speak on its behalf at the public hearing.

Year-to-date construction permits were valued at $22.7 million, compared to $19.2 million the previous period in 1975. County officials said new homes in Heritage Hills, Ridaught Landing, Black Creek Park, Jacksonville South and Country Pines was a large part of the new growth.