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Father Of Oregon Occupier Says Rural NV Upbringing Influenced Distrust In Government

The 73-year-old father of one of the four holdouts at the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon says Jeffrey Banta may have learned his distrust of the U.S. government from him growing up in rural Nevada.

Willard Banta says he hopes his 47-year-old son, who now lives in Elko, and the others leave the refuge soon.

But he told The Associated Press from his home in Yerington, Nevada, 70 miles southeast of Reno, that he sympathizes with their frustration with federal land managers and worries how the standoff will end.

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The elder Banta says he would join them in Oregon if he wasn't so old. He says he loves his country, but he despises the politicians in the federal government who he says are prying in people's private lives and trying to take away their guns.