If you read The Dallas Morning News' account last week of unspeakable abuses at Texas' schools for the mentally retarded, you may have thrown up your hands and said something like: "I give. Texas has so many institutional problems - how can we keep them all straight, much less get them fixed?"

But our state leaders can't give in, nor can the staffers who run the schools.

Otherwise, more families will suffer in the way The Dallas Morning News' Emily Ramshaw reported.

Incredibly, a Dallas family's mentally retarded son died from pneumonia after they found him sitting in an open doorway at the Lubbock State School in the dead of winter, partially clothed, soaked with urine and unresponsive.

The school drew legislators' attention earlier this year, but it's hardly the only problem.

Ms. Ramshaw reported abuses statewide.

What to do is the perplexing part. We offer five suggestions:

1. The Justice Department should investigate widely. Not just the Lubbock school, where it has made its presence known. Poke around in all state schools.

2. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick should appoint an interim committee to examine abuses.

If nothing else, Austin's gaze will pressure staffers to tread carefully.

3. If March rolls around and this problem persists, Gov. Rick Perry should call a special session.

The mentally retarded are a worthier cause than the governor's idea of a special session to divest Texas funds from Iran-linked companies.

It also would allow legislators a chance to invest more in staffing and training. (Austin approved 1,700 new staffers and training after the Lubbock school hit the headlines.)

4. Legislators should give Mr. Perry the power to shut down an outof control school.

5. Austin should follow Sen. Judith Zaffirini's lead and make it easier for families to place loved ones in smaller group homes.

The more families can find a humane alternative, the less likely they'll be to discover relatives dying in a doorway in the cold of winter.

Texans are trusting the state with their loved ones. Certainly, the state can't give up until this problem is fixed.