An anonymous complaint against a small cross in the yard of some Christian homeowners has led to a community development district paying out nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Wayne and Bonnie Anderson were notified on April 1, 2019, that their 1-foot white cross was in violation of yard decoration standards at The Villages.
‘In law, there has to be harm — what’s the harm? What’s behind all this? Something sinister, I guess.’
“I thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke,” Wayne Anderson said. “We call it a religious icon; they call it yard art — like the same with pink flamingos.”
He says that someone anonymously complained, and the Village Community Development District 8 began to fine him $25 for each day that he refused to take the cross down.
“The last I heard it was $44,000 for us,” he said.
“It’s not hurting anybody — there’s no harm,” Anderson added. “In law, there has to be harm — what’s the harm? What’s behind all this? Something sinister, I guess.”
The community district filed a lawsuit against the couple, and more than five years later, a judge ordered the district to settle with the couple. The district agreed to pay $173K in court costs and legal fees, as well as $70K for the Andersons.
And the cross gets to stay in the yard.
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“Quarter of a million dollars nearly — over the little white cross,” Wayne Anderson said. “Can you believe that?”
WOFL-TV said the community district did not respond to requests for comment. The report noted that other crosses had popped up in the same neighborhood.
“This should never have happened, and it should never happen again,” Anderson added. “In the end, we get to display [it] as is our constitutional and God-given right.”
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