Professor Jill Bracy from the University of Missouri-St. Louis knew Don Sweeney as a student, then as a mentor, then as a co-worker. She spoke about his excellence in teaching.
by Don Corrigan
Among the many accomplishments cited for the late Don Sweeney at his St. Louis tribute in January was his work with the Army Corps of Engineers. Sweeney became a whistleblower at the Corps over a proposed billion-dollar Mississippi River project.
Included in relics from that 2000 controversy, available at the Sweeney tribute, was a Time magazine cover story on the Corps’ Mississippi River project, which Sweeney opposed over the objections of his supervisors.
Stories inside the July 10, 2000 edition of Time magazine were packed with headlines, subheads, captions, and accounts of Sweeney’s opposition. Similar news accounts appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Washington Post.
One caption read: “Don Sweeney blew the whistle on wasted dollars and a ruined river.” A headline warned: “Mississippi Mud: The Army Corps of Engineers wants to build and dredge, no matter what.”
Environmental Echo 