LamarThames's blog

In response to an earlier blog about My Clay Sun discontinuing its Thursday edition, yes it is true and the announcement is being made in the Saturday edition. I wanted to post a new blog so that it doesn't appear that I am trying to bury the information as a response to another blog.

Here is what you will read on the top of Saturday's My Clay Sun:

Effective Oct. 23, My Clay Sun will cease publication of its Thursday editions. The paper will continue to be published on Saturdays. For any questions about advertising relating to the cancellation of the Thursday edition, call sales manager Cindy Newman at 366-6384. For questions about editorial content, call editor Lamar Thames at 366-6370.

Just a quick recap on all of the election results from Tuesday night in Clay County:

Clerk of the Court: Winner -- Jimmy Jett 21,347; Wayne Spivey, 9,133

Sheriff: Winner -- Rick Beseler, 17,046; Mike Taylor, 12,033; Gary Newman, 2,305

School Superintendent: Winner -- Ben Wortham, 12,523; Pat Thurman, 8,826. Will face Steven Richards in general election in November

Supervisor of elections: Winner -- Chris Chambless, 15,541; Debbie Ricks, 10,891; Stefanie Thomas, 3,455

County Commission at large: Winner -- Diane Hutchings, 15,592; Ronnie Coleman, 7,794; Paul Ackley, 5,465

This information was released by Darlene Mayla of the Clay County School District Sunday night:

This is to inform you that ALL CLAY COUNTY SCHOOLS WILL RE-OPEN ON MONDAY, August 25th. 

There are, however, several roads that our buses will not be able to go down, due to flooding.  Therefore, students are asked to go to the following bus stop locations:

This was reported by Jim Schoettler and Lamar Thames on Jacksonville.com tonight:
What the National Weather Service intially labeled a "large and extremely dangerous" tornado turned into a fairly harmless twister as it moved north from Green Cove into Duval County this evening.

Karen and Michael Dziekan said they spotted the tornado above their Fleming Island home about 6 p.m. as it swirled near the St. Johns River.

With thanks and apologies to spotted photographer and blogger jimmaxie, I drove by Whitey's a little while ago to get a better idea of what is happening there.
I ran into Earl Owns, a Mayport shrimp boat captain and Clay County resident, who brought his boat to Whitey's Marina to ride out what looked like at one time might be a hurricane. Earl was there around 11 a.m. today along with a member of his crew, Ronnie Hildum, the father of Clay County's fire chief of the same name.

Numerous power lines fell throughout Clay County this afternoon but no one was injured.

High winds caused roof damage to two businesses in Keystone Heights. A Chinese restaurant lost part of its roof and a supermarket lost parts of its roof and some stucco facade. Both businesses are still open while repairs are being made, according to Clay County Fire Rescue Chief Frank Ennist.

Clay County will open five emergency shelters tonight, beginning at 6:30 p.m. with the special needs shelter at the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts, 283 College Drive, Orange Park. The special needs shelter is for people who have already registered.

The other four will open at 7:30 p.m. They are Keystone Heights Junior-Senior HIgh School, 900 S. Orange Ave.; Clay High School, 2025 Florida 16 W., Green Cove Springs; Orange Park High School, 2300 Kingsley Ave., and Tynes Elementary School, 1550 Tynes Blvd., Middleburg.

Everest University in Orange Park will be closed Thursday, Aug. 21 due to Tropical Storm Fay. The campus is located at 805 Wells Road. It joins the campus closure announced earlier today in Jacksonville, located at 8226 Philips Highway. Both campuses are expected to open Friday.

Green Cove Springs, FL  -    Due to the anticipated effects of Tropical Storm Fay, the offices of the Tax Collector and Property Appraiser have announced that they will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, August 21. All other Constitutional Offices including those of the Supervisor of Elections, Clerk of Court and Sheriff’s Office will be operating as normal. County government departments will be operating under normal business hours (8 a.m.

The grand opening ceremonies for the Daystar Center for developmentally disabled adults at the Barco New Family YMCA on Fleming Island set for Thursday have been postponed, according to Terra Herzberger of the YMCA. The ceremony is tentatively rescheduled for 4 to 5 p.m. Aug. 27.