Behnen ‘sentimental’ about Binion house

Grace Leong

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2001 | 10:50 a.m.

Horseshoe Casino owner Becky Behnen, who is being sued by her siblings over a house they inherited from their mother, said she had hoped to turn the property into a public park in memory of her parents.

The seven-acre property at 2040 West Bonanza Roadwas conveyed in 1996 to riverboat gambling operator Jack B. Binion, Ted Binion and their sisters, Brenda Sharon Michael and Becky Behnen, by their mother Teddy Jane Binion.

But Jack, the estate of Ted Binion and their sister, Brenda, sued Behnen last week to force her to sell her share of the house and to distribute the proceeds of the sale.

"They have put me in a bind. I'm a sentimentalist," Behnen said. "I wanted that property to be turned into a public park and name it in memory of my parents. It would have been named the "Teddy Jane and Benny Binion Park."

"I had such wonderful memories growing up in that house. I wanted to put in a playground there and let children living in a big residential area behind the house enjoy the place as much as I had growing up," she said.

"The house has an interesting history. It was formerly a home that was built for people who stayed there six weeks while waiting to get a divorce. There's even a wishing well where you can throw your wedding ring in," Behnen said. "My father bought the house for about $63,000 in January 1947. It was to have been a temporary residence until we moved back to Texas. But we ended up living there until 1974."

She said the house, which was abandoned around 1974, survived a fire in May 1990 that caused severe water damage and destroyed the top floor. "And in October of 1997, Sandra Murphy (Ted Binion's girlfriend convicted of killing him) went in there tearing out what's left of the walls in search of money."

Behnen said she hasn't decided how she'll respond to her siblings' lawsuit.