Photo Credit: Google Images/ Rich Addicks/AJC

Juanita Bynum, a preacher whose fiery and frank sermons about women’s empowerment have won her a national following, was attacked by her husband in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel early Wednesday morning, police said.

Bynum and her estranged husband, Thomas W. Weeks III, had met up at Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to try to reconcile, Atlanta police said. But while at the parking lot about 4 a.m., the two got into a physical fight until a bellman at the hotel pulled Bynum’s husband off her, Officer Ronald Campbell said.

“She was bruised up and battered,” Campbell said. “She had purple bruising around her neck and upper torso.”

The husband, who is also a preacher, left the scene. No charges have been filed against him, according to police.

Prescription: Every action has a reaction. Ms. Bynum is a public figure and there are really two options as to how she can handle this situation. She can either retreat and try not to comment because this story will eventually fade away Or, after the dust and emotions settle it might be a good time to chat with a publicist about how to use this public incident to leverage her divorce case, raise her public profile, elevate her platform for women’s empowerment and drive sales of her books and cd’s.

We’ll have to see how this prays out.

Like a rapper who goes to jail, does this incident give Ms. Bynum more credibility?Read the story here:http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/08/22/bynum_0823.html