Will little fanfare last week, one of this community's true “legends” stepped down from a staff position with the city's Retired Senior and Volunteer Program (RSVP) that he has held over the last decade.

Ormie King, who is one of the best cheerleaders this community has (not only with his weekly newspaper column, but the displays of Auburn history that he loans out to the community with laminated stories and photos that cover the last three quarters of a century), retired at the age of 70 last week, as possibly the oldest city employee at the time.

While it is not expected that he will be giving up his column, nor his displays (if you're in Auburn City Halls lobby there is a great one right now on view), he will take it easy for a bit.

King has a long history of public service that goes beyond his RSVP work. For many years he served in the Cayuga County Legislature representing a large slice of the northeast side of the city. He then moved up in the late 1980s to represent taxpayers on the Auburn City Council for nearly five years.

His gregarious smile and outgoing manner represents what is best with Auburn and Cayuga County and is the most important thing to remember.

Auburn is a sports town (if ever there was one) and he has melded a rich history of non-professional sports with the way neighborhoods grew from the 1930s onward. He may have the best collection of what is right with this community than anyone else.

This columnist just wants to wish him well as he spends more time clipping, laminating and, of course, writing.

PASS THE POPCORN

After several delays, the Auburn Public Theater is finally opening its 70-seat movie theater this Sunday at 7 p.m. with Steven Spielberg's “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” running until Thursday, July 17, with the same film at the same time at 108 Genesee St.

The multi-use building now includes the APT Cinema, with a long-awaited state-of-the-art projector and movie house, largely funded by the generosity of the Karpinski family and their foundation. The cost of admission to the 1977 PG movie is $5.

APT will go to a regular schedule starting Friday July 18 and every Saturday with 7 p.m. showings.

Next Friday and Saturday, the theater will bring in Jonathan Paskowitz to discuss his new film, “Surfwise.” Future films will include “Cinema Paradiso” and “The Godfather.”

See you at the movies!

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com