Her East Chester community was reeling from a murder. The slaying was the fourth shooting in a three-day period in Chester County, and police said the violence appeared to emerge from a drug war raging between five neighborhood groups.

One of the groups hails from East Chester, where Miles has lived since she got married in 1953.

"Lord, what can we do?" asked Miles, who wants her neighborhood to return to the peaceful place it was so many years ago.

So, she and 14 other Chester County residents met nine days ago in a small church on Saluda Street. The purpose was to talk about neighborhood violence and what was going on in their community.

Then Miles shared her idea: A forum that would bring local people together to talk about solutions to the fighting.

Two events planned for this week

Her suggestion has led to two free community events.

The first will be 5 p.m. Tuesday at Trinity Fellowship Church, the same place where Miles started talking about a forum. The event will be the regular meeting for the Ward 4 East Chester Community Group Association. But if enough people show up, the meeting will become a forum, said Makeda Baker, a leader in the group.

Another forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Chester County YMCA.

Local law enforcement will be at both events to talk to residents about what they're doing to combat the drug problem. Authorities also want to hear from residents about their concerns, and they plan to talk to parents about how to recognize if their children are involved in a gang.

"Anytime you get community feedback, it's always a positive thing," said Detective Scott Thompson of the Chester County Sheriff's Office. "The community is able to come in and say, 'Hey, these are the problems we're having, these are the needs we have.' And then we are able to try and address the needs that they see."

Kim Moore liked the concept of a forum to discuss local gang and drug problems.

Moore, who works with the Chester County School District's Safe Schools/Healthy Students Project, helped organize the YMCA forum.

"Our community is just overwhelmed by this violence," she said. "And these people (the East Chester community group) want to do something about it. The police want to do something about it. ... And we, as like school district personnel, we definitely want to see school children living in safer places."

Moore said the King's CREW, a Chester Middle School group that promotes nonviolent activism, also will be there to talk about what its members are seeing.

"A lot of these kids, these things are happening in their own neighborhood," Moore said. "They can explain things in a way that adults just can't."

Miles was pleased to see the community set up events to talk about the neighborhood problems. But she doesn't want any credit for the idea. She just wants her neighborhood back.

"We can do better," she said. "Things might not look good, but we've got to be positive."