A husband and wife in The Villages fighting to save their little white cross were deposed this week by an “army” of lawyers.
Wayne and Bonnie Anderson have been waging a war for five years, fighting to keep the little white cross on display at their home in the Village of Tamarind Grove.
Wayne Anderson said he and his wife “faced a small army of Villages lawyers who interrogated us for seven and a half hours.”
Anderson said he was taken aback by the money and muscle being put into the team of legal eagles, being funded by he and his fellow residents of Community Development District 8 through maintenance assessments.
“Their five waiting lawyers surrounded the large conference desk. They had stacks of big-black binders several inches thick of documentation, emails, correspondences, news articles, background checks, and a stack of photos of our yard. I thought, impressive,” Wayne Anderson told Villages-News.com. “I also thought: Who is paying for all this? The legal manpower, the FBI-style intelligence gathering, the colorful 20-page photo essay from two separate-clandestine photographers standing in the shadows shooting my home from all angles, the private-eye detective work, etc. This cost a lot.”
The deposition took a toll on his wife.
“Finally, after hours of questioning and fatigue, they broke Bonnie. She dropped her head into her hands and cried uncontrollably, her tears for loving Jesus and simply wanting to display her faith in the cross,” he said.
Wayne Anderson said the war on the little white cross is shining a spotlight on the dark side at Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
“Toe the line or find yourself in court,” he said.
Wayne Anderson has filed to run for a seat on the CDD 8 board which has taken him to court. During the deposition, he asked the attorneys how much money residents have spent thus far on the legal battle.
He said they told him they didn’t know the total of the legal tab.
Anderson said he and his wife are standing firm.
“Their deposition was just another attempt to put homeowners in their place. The Villages’ bullying isn’t just targeting us. They are sending a stern warning to the other 150,000 homeowners, who might dare to rightly display a little white cross in their yards,” he said.
The Andersons are due in court in June.
