PARK HILLS — Something unusual happened on Halloween at Notre Dame Academy. There were costumes and plenty of screaming, even mayhem and tears. But nothing bad happened.

        Tuesday's holiday was incidental for the Notre Dame girls though — who brought in 20,000 pop cans during the past two weeks to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

        The screaming was for a visit by a pop group the girls won for their soda pop efforts. Up-and-coming Los Angeles boy band “No Authority” was coming to school.

        Band members Eric Stretch, Ricky G, Danny Zavatsky and Tommy McCarthy strutted into the school's auditorium, where 551 ear- piercing screams acknowledged their arrival. Girls decked out in Halloween costumes and armed with disposable cameras wailed, wept and snapped pictures of the four-member band, known for their hit “Can I Get Your Number.”

        “We got a kiss,” Jennifer Wolfe, 17, said.

        “I got a hug,” said her twin sister, Julie Wolfe. “They were so sweet. They gave it their all.”

        The two girls, along with their friend Angela Sia, 17 — all seniors — coordinated collecting enough cans to place second in the contest, after Holy Family Church in Price Hill. Eight Tristate schools gathered cans, turning them into cash earmarked for the Make-A—Wish Foundation.

        “I had not been drinking much soda,” Jennifer said. “But I drank a lot.”

        “We had people staying after school crushing cans,” Julie said. “The whole school got involved.”

        Originally the band had planned only one stop, for the first-place winners. But band members were so impressed with the amount Notre Dame Academy collected, they came anyway.

        “They just decided to do this because they got so much,” said Shaft, a KISS-FM promotions worker.

        Standing discretely near the auditorium's side door, Sister Maria Francine watched the chaos, smiling.

        “They worked hard, and they deserve it,” she said.

        The assembly ended minutes before the bell rang, signaling an end to the school day. Handlers shuffled the band members to the waiting cavalcade of vans

        and radio station promotion vehicles. A plane was waiting at the airport.

        Inside the school, students filled the lobby, teachers and school officials barely holding them back. The band's entourage was pulling away as the bell rang, then was briefly lost in the parking lot as students sprinted to their cars hoping to catch the teen heartthrobs. “They had a good time, and it was for a good cause,” said Sister Rita Geoppinger, the school's principal. “It's a first for Notre Dame. I'll say that.”

Voter registration at record peak
Anglican primate to visit Cincinnati
Another teen dies on Tristate road
'How's my driving?' stickers for teens
Time to study hard, but life gets in the way
Band answers school's wish
Deal frees OTR property for fix-up
Fire damage could hit $1M
Golden Lamb says street work could force it to close
Killer's hospital status debated
Ads play in swing states
Anti-tax group targets CPS levy
CROWLEY: Stumping the public access way
Piper calls ads dirty politics
Westwood says ad by Henson is false
Too many pets invokes penalty
Blackout hits Warren, Butler
Cops take to bikes in Fairfield Twp.
Covington mosaic goes on display
Detente night offered candidates
Ex-reporter could testify in '63 slaying
Medicaid reinstated for 150,000 Ohioans
More expected to seek heating aid
Princeton teachers' union ratifies contract
Thieves target Springboro schools
Widow describes hearing shots
Regional air traffic snarled by blackout
Kentucky digest
Lieutenant governor's son arrested
Local digest
Ohio State Patrol fires assistant area commander
Patton: Don't attack coal industry over spill
Roadblocks hinder media in area of sludge spill
Son charged with killing mother