Subject: Ben (Was: Re: More on THE MOVIE... (and blood types))
From: ingria@bbn.com (Bob Ingria)
Date: 1991-08-29, 09:51
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks
Reply-to: ingria@BBN.COM

In article <56731@apple.Apple.COM> larryy@Apple.COM (Larry Yaeger) writes:

   * Yes, Laura did write in her diary that one day she would tell the world
   about Ben Horne.  But that entry was right around the time she spent her
   first and only weekend at One-Eyed Jack's.  We know that Ben liked to visit
   all the "new girls", and Ben admitted sleeping with Laura to Audrey.
   Undoubtedly, Laura learned from her time at OEJ that Ben was its owner,
   and this, I believe, is what she was considering telling to the world.
   The fact that Ben Horne was not the model citizen he purported to be is
   supposed to be a shock to the locals, because they don't know about all
   the evil scheming that we, as the audience of TP, have been privy to.
   I surely would have liked to see the moment when Ben first discovered
   that Laura was the new girl de joure!

Speaking of which, is anybody else here annoyed that Ben wasn't
arrested?  Not for Laura's murder, but for the host of other crimes he
committed.  There's solicitation for prostitution (documented by
Laura's diary (maybe, if those pages survived) and by Audrey Horne's
experience; and also by Ronette, when she recovered).  Some of these
high school girls, at least, were minors, which adds another charge.
There's Ben's ownership of One-Eyed Jack's; if he did not report
income from it, there's a charge of income tax fraud.  (His ownership
by itself was presumably not illegal.)  There's also the obvious fact
that he stood to profit from the burning of the mill, which was known
to be a case of arson, which should have prompted investigation along
those lines.

A major problem I have with developments after Ben Horne was brought
in with regard to Laura's murder is that the testimony of Laura's
diary and of Audrey Horne that came to light as part of the murder
investigation also revealed many of Ben's shady dealings and pointed
to others.  Even though TP law enforcement would have had to drop the
murder charge, there were other things for them to charge him with,
just on the basis of the evidence they had, as well as clues that
should have led to further investigations.

-30-
Bob

``You make the rest of us look like primates.''