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The most effective traffic-control device used around the world and in cities with far more congestion than Tucson is the roundabout or rotary. They eliminate traffic signals, keep traffic moving smoothly and reduce gas consumption and pollution.

Even "busy" Bisbee has a roundabout that connects four points of the compass without stopping traffic. As we prepare to spend millions on Grant Road, I believe the lowly roundabout should receive serious consideration as a solution to left-turn dilemmas as we re-engineer major intersections throughout the community.

We have just elected a new president, one who caused the American people to overcome racial prejudice and judge someone by his abilities and not the color of his skin. We can change and mature as a society.

Now the gay communities want change. They want society to accept their way of life and give them the same rights as every married couple in America.

What they really are asking is for society to accept and validate a way of life that goes against the laws of nature. They have a right to live together, care for each other in any way they choose, but they do not have the right to ask society for our blessing as a legal and binding marriage. That right has always and should always be reserved for a man and a women.

How someone lives his or her life is not my concern, but to ask society to accept it as a normal and legitimate way of life is my concern.

Re: the Nov. 14 article "Congress checks hedge funds' role in financial crisis."

The story's definition that a hedge fund "is a private investment fund" needs modification. A hedge fund is a private fund that primarily engages in pure speculation. I am encouraged that five prominent hedge-fund managers support a central exchange to open the murky world of some complex financial dealings affecting the public.

Congress should activate a central exchange — a new "casino in the sky" for these funds to use. Careful analysis must be done to reveal and control hedge-fund impacts on traditional investment markets.

Re: the Nov. 14 article "Get involved, female leaders tell girls."

While we appreciated the coverage of "Running and Winning," the program introducing practical politics to high school girls, we were extremely upset that there was no mention of one of the prime co-sponsors of the event, the American Association of University Women.

Members of the Casas Adobes and Tucson branches of this national organization were represented as two of the three co-chairs of the event, and a preponderance of volunteers staffing the event were from the organization.

The program originated with the League of Women Voters in Camden, N.J. In Tucson, it was adapted and presented as a joint project of the league and the American Association of University Women, and has functioned as such since 2004. The Pima County Women's Commission came on board later, and this year we added the political science department of the University of Arizona.

We hope you manage to give full credit to the American Association of University Women in the future.

Re: the Nov. 14 article "TUSD seeking new leader for Enrichment Foundation."

I was as saddened to read of the departure of Robert Padilla, executive director of the Educational Enrichment Foundation, as I was exhilarated to read of the innovative programs which he initiated at the foundation.

Programs such as the proposed scholarships for at least one fifth-grader, school principal-for-a-day and, above all, the new international poetry celebration are examples of Padilla's creative and brilliant leadership.

The foundation's inability to retain one of the more talented and creative nonprofit leaders in our community is truly a sad commentary. One can only hope the organizations will be able to work together in an effort to sustain these programs, which Tucsonans should be very proud to support.

Re: the Nov. 14 editorial "Legislature shouldn't hold DEQ hostage."

Concerning the recent threat by Sen. Chuck Gray, R-Mesa, to abolish the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in retaliation for the state's participation in a global climate-change plan, the appropriate response is to tell them to go right ahead.

Since the main job of ADEQ is the enforcement of federal laws, that responsibility would be bucked back to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The result would be that the regulated industries, which includes most of the industries and governments in Arizona, would be subject to the full force of regulation by the EPA.

Before leaping into the arms of the Obama EPA, the regulated community might pause to consider that the environmental community has more chops with the incoming administration than it does.

Retaining the state agency with its long history of working with all sectors of Arizona might well be in the best interests of the regulated. This might be a good time for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, county and municipal governments and others to point this out to Gray.

Re: the Nov. 15 article "Pima library contingent honored at White House."

The Star's article failed to name the local residents who attended the "Coming Up Taller Awards" ceremony. They are Marge Pellegrino, director of the Word Journeys program, and Jennifer Ngo, an Amphitheater High School senior who has been a program mentor for two years.

Congratulations to everyone at the Woods branch library and Amphitheater Public Schools who has worked to make the Word Journeys program a resounding success.

Re: the Nov. 16 article "Incidents of racism dampen Obama's victory glow."

I was, naively, stunned and alarmed by the information in the article. I wonder, how are places of worship and their priests/pastors/rabbis/imams reacting to the awful facts of the article.

I wish every member of every Christian church, Jewish synagogue, Muslim mosque and other sites of worship could hear profound condemnation of the incidents and others like it from their spiritual leaders as well as from leaders in our schools, communities and businesses.

My husband and I, who are white, completed nine years of rearing our biracial granddaughter (now a full-scholarship student at the University of Chicago). The results of the recent election have been an exceptionally proud moment for her and millions of other Americans of all shades of color and paleness. How terribly sad for our society that there are those people who carry only hate and revenge in their hearts and minds.