Character: Dave Soldo Has It; Kimberly Bynum Doesn't

Good character seems to be a rare commodity these days. At one time attorneys were the usual brunt of jokes about shady character, but teachers must be rapidly closing in on first place. Kimberly Bynum-Garner, a math teacher at Vina, is our sextactular teacher du jour.

Bynum-Garner teaches algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and statistics at Vina High School...or did until arrested for having "deviant sexual intercourse" with a student under the age of 19.

What kind of person is the 29 year-old Bynum-Garner? Here's a brief description in her own words:

I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama where I graduated from Hewitt-Trussville High School. I earned my Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics and Secondary Education from the University of Alabama. I am married to Nathan L. Garner, band director at Hamilton High School. We reside in Hamilton with our children, Ladybird (chocolate lab) and Bandit (ninja cat).

If convicted, Kimberly Bynum-Garner could face 20 years in prison. Sources say her 28 year-old husband, a Hamilton native and one-time drum major at the high school where he now teaches, has already moved on. We wish him the best.

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We commented yesterday on Dave Soldo, fabrication manager at National Alabama, who has left the beleaguered rail car company. In that blog we referred to Mr. Soldo as an engineer. We have received this e-mail from Mr. Soldo :

My name is Dave Soldo and as your article states am currently employed with National Alabama Corporation. Although I find your article flattering I feel that some parts of it have been somewhat over dramatized and in fact are not accurate. So in interest of clarity and to be fair to many hard working people in that organization, please allow me to state some actual facts.

I am not an Engineer and at national Steel Car in Canada I held position of Project Manager. I was not a "GUY" responsible for feasibility of projects at NAC for that is responsibility of a group of people and is very much a team effort. Without me NAC will not come to a screeching halt. Although I provided inputs in all outsourced projects, others were very much involved.

In conclusion I personally feel that NAC will be successful company and this community's support has been the best I have ever seen. I can only hope that this will continue. We will all see that company achieve great things. To all my friends at NAC, Best of luck and I will miss you.

Dave

Thank you, Mr. Soldo, for your clarification. May we say you qualify as someone of great character, or as we in Alabama are apt to express it, a "class act."

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J. J. Ray has left our blogging group. We wish him the best in his future endeavors. If you would like to become a regular member of our team, or just contribute from time to time, please feel free to contact us. Thanks to all our readers who make our blog worthwhile.



Shoalanda