SALISBURY — Davie County Commissioner Dan Barrett, a Republican, is reviving an old campaign tactic in his bid for the 13th Congressional District seat.

Barrett ran for governor in 2004 and walked across the state — from Murphy to Manteo — as part of his campaign. Now, he’s planning to walk across the 13th Congressional District — from Mooresville to Guilford County.

In a news release, Barrett’s campaign says the walk will start at 8 a.m. Monday in Mooresville. Barrett plans to walk from town to town and talk to local residents. The news release says Barrett will walk from Mooresville to Troutman. In total, Barrett’s planned walk measures more than 100 miles.

“The walk is a chance for me to listen to the concerns of the citizens of the district, and for them to get to know me,” Barrett said in a news release. “Many people are still hurting economically. This is the worst recovery from a recession since the Great Depression. I want to let folks know about my plan to grow the economy and bring good jobs back to this area.”

Barrett is one of the 17 Republican candidates running for the 13th Congressional District. The candidate who receives the most votes in June’s party primary will advance to November’s general election.

Rowan County commissioner comes up with nickname for chairman

In Rowan County’s most popular Facebook group, County Commissioner Craig Pierce unveiled a nickname for Commissioners Chairman Greg Edds.

In the private group Rowan Rural Save Our Schools, Pierce commented on his removal from a school-related committee and called Edds “Giveaway Greg.” He gave Vice Chair Jim Greene a similar nickname “Giveaway Greene.”

In one of a few posts he made in the group, Pierce said he was initially appointed to the Joint Capital Improvement Committee — formed to avoid a legal process called mediation — and later replaced with Greene. Pierce said he was removed because he didn’t agree with the direction of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education. Pierce said he was “replaced with Giveaway Greene by my new chairman, Giveaway Greg.”

“Imagine, the only commissioner in the construction business is removed because they couldn’t pull the wool over my eyes about the costs of the proposed construction,” Pierce said in his post.

He was commenting on another post about the construction of the Rowan-Salisbury Schools’ central office building and a consolidated elementary school in western Rowan.

Pierce is the owner of Pierce Interiors and Construction.

House reps confident that HB 2 won’t be addressed by deadline

When the U.S. Department of Justice said House Bill 2 violates the Civil Rights Act, risking the loss of federal funding, North Carolina officials had until Monday to make a change. Leaders of the legislature and Rowan’s N.C. House members, however, say that deadline likely can’t be met.

Commenting early Thursday afternoon, Rep. Carl Ford, R-76, called the DOJ’s decision “bogus.” Ford said the law didn’t need to be changed. If it did, Monday was too soon, he said.

When asked about the matter on Thursday, Rep. Harry Warren, R-77, said most legislators were already headed home for the week. The DOJ decision still needed to be analyzed legally, Warren said.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.