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, Z

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