Advocacy Group Says The Head of The States Mental Retardation Services Should Resign

ST. LOUIS -- An advocacy group says the head of the states mental retardation services should resign. The Mentally Retarded Citizens of Missouri wants director Anne Deaton to step down because of allegations of abuse at a resident care center for the mentally ill in suburban St. Louis. Those allegations include a report of a man beaten to death at the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center. Deaton heads the state Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities%2C which oversees the Center. The group says Deaton is not being attentive to quality of care at the states five resident care centers for the mentally disabled. The state and police are investigating the death and other allegations of workers abusing residents. "