How could a small lawn ornament in The Villages cause so much trouble? Yet, an anonymous complaint about a little white cross erupted into a five-and-a-half-year court battle over constitutional issues when a retiree and his wife stood their ground and won their case.

At first glance, quick-with-a-quip laid-back Wayne Anderson, 70, from southern California might seem like an unlikely combatant. But from the start, the complaint by the District 8 Community Development District didn’t seem to make any sense to the retired building contractor and newspaper reporter.

“They’re all over the place,” he said of the little crosses in other yards that surround his home at 2439 Ansley Path. He estimates that there are tens of thousands of the 12-inch high crosses. There are a few Buddha statutes, Zen boxes and one Navy veteran has a little saluting sailor.

The fight started in 2019 when his Catholic church handed out crosses one day to parishioners urging them to publicly mark their faith and celebrate the nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage.

“I said, sure I’ll do that.”

Soon, he received a notice from the district’s governing board that it was a violation of deed restrictions. A representative of the district also showed up to tell him to remove it from his front yard.

Wayne pointed to one in his next-door neighbor’s yard.

“Yeah, we know,” the representative said, “but someone complained.”

He said the representative told him that he wasn’t allowed to look at the neighbor’s cross.

“It’s right there!” Wayne said to him.

The fact that it was an anonymous complaint irked Wayne and his wife, Bonnie.

He said they had only been in the home six or seven months and had not had any disagreements with neighbors. “It usually takes me longer than that,” he joked.

He doesn’t have any idea who complained.

“We have a few trolls here,” he says, including a couple of women who ride around on a golf cart who stir up trouble “for some kind of psychological reason or release.”

“In this country you have the right to face your accuser,” Wayne says. “It’s the sixth amendment to the Constitution.” He said he realizes it applies to criminal cases, but the principle is just.

There was another issue at hand. A dispute with a homeowners’ association is one thing, but community development districts are a form of government.

Government restricting free speech and religious rights “is a big no-no,” he says.

The Arago Law Firm of Kissimmee agreed to help the Andersons on a contingency basis. “They’re Catholic, too,” he says.

“It went on and on and on.”

Finally, the Sumter County circuit court judge in charge of the case ordered the parties to try mediation.

“This is ridiculous,” Wayne says, quoting the judge.

The district’s insurance company agreed to settle, Wayne said. The Andersons were awarded $70,000, which goes to their attorneys. The district is paying its attorneys $173,000.

There was also a unique compromise. The district admitted that there would not be an issue of an ornament if it was attached to a planter. So, the Andersons attached the cross to a container.

“Ironically, the plant is a Crown of Thorns,” he says. It is a spikey succulent flower that refers to the torturous crown placed on Christ’s head during his crucifixion.

Wayne had another decision to make about whether he should continue his fight against anonymous complaints and infringement of rights. His ultimate determination reflected part of his courageous work as a war correspondent in Afghanistan and Iraq and writing columns in Texas and Wisconsin.

So, he ran for a seat on the CDD and won last November by 122 votes. He tried to muster support to do away with the anonymous complaint rule but was outvoted. He said he will try again.

“I could either sit in the bleachers or get in the game and change things,” he says.