It is a great time that Ali Baba Temple, D.O.K.K., of Lewiston, is planning. The entire troop will go to Waterville on Thursday, May 12, for a ceremonial session.

Just what a ceremonial session means is not for the outside world to know. Common ears and eyes cannot absorb these great and startling facts without too great a shock to their nervous sensibilities. It is enough to know that the party will go in a special car decorated with flags, symbols and streamers. One streamer is sixty feet long and will go the entire length of the car. This will bear the name and number of the Temple and there will be several other cabalistic symbols that will give hints of the dark and mystic mission on which the party are engaged.

50 Years Ago, 1954

Thundering over Lewiston Falls, the foaming waters of the Androscoggin River reached a peak in the Twin City area about 5 p.m. yesterday. The inflow at Gulf Island Dam was 40,720 cubic feet a second.

“The river has apparently reached its peak here.” said Paul W. Bean, river engineer for the Union Water Power Co. “The last report indicates the river level will probably start to fall, if we don’t get more rain.”

Moving rapidly down the river from Rumford, the highest crest of the year pushed the river flow at Gulf Island Dam up more than 22,000 cfs in less than 24 hours. At 6 p.m. Sunday, the flow was just 18,000 cfs.

25 Years ago, 1979

Lewiston and Auburn are reported to be the only municipalities in the state of Maine which are provided with cable television service, yet, do not collect a franchise fee.

In fact, no franchise agreement presently exists at all.

And, besides precluding any say the cities might have in programming, it has resulted in the loss of potential revenue totaling some $24,780 last year.

The cities of Lewiston and Auburn are moving in an attempt to secure the fee in the future, but the process has been a slow one. Not only does it point up legal manpower problems in local government, but underscores the complicated nature of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations that govern such franchises.

The Twin Cities are served by Cable Vision Inc., a member of Adams-Russell of Waltham, Mass., but that affiliation has only been in effect about five years. Previously, it was an independent operation started by two Lewiston men, Bert and Marc Michaud.