The sign outside the Auburn Plaza movie plex still says Hoyt’s, but it’s not really Hoyt’s anymore, and it hasn’t been for about seven months.

But don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere.

Last April, Hoyt’s sold about 75 percent of its screens to Regal Cinemas and 25 percent to Northeast Cinemas LLC, according to Dan Vieira, senior vice president in charge of operations and marketing at Northeast.

The Auburn theater with about 29 others went to Northeast.

Vieira said they retained the right to keep using the Hoyt’s name for a year but stopped selling Hoyt’s gift certificates and movie money. (They still accept both, though.)

“There’s no closing. We’ve got a long-term lease there, we’re very happy there,” in Auburn Plaza, Vieira said. “It’s a bit confusing, it’ll clarify itself soon.”

New signage is due this spring when, to the outside world, the theater will change its name.

– Kathryn Skelton
The “s” is staying

Many people may have noticed that one of the new stone columns at the entrance of the new Auburn Hall has been removed.

The heavy granite piece was taken down days after it went up, around the same time that the Sun Journal wrote a brief column in this same section, wondering if city officials had made a mistake when translating the city’s motto from Latin to English.

You see, the motto is engraved in both languages on the stone columns.

The Latin version, which is written on the remaining column, says “Nulla Vestigia Retrorsum.” The English version, which is written on the column that has come down, says “No Steps Backwards.”

Although Webster’s New World Dictionary allows interchangeable use of “backward” and “backwards” to mean going in reverse, the Associated Press Stylebook, the Bible of the modern newsroom, instructs writers to never use “backwards.”

The question was posed to city officials: “Did the stonemasons add an errant ‘s’?”

At the time, City Manager Pat Finnigan stood by the translation.

But days later, the column came down, leaving some people to wonder if the city had changed its position.

Assistant City Manager Mark Adams confirmed Friday that is not the case.

The column came down because the edges were chipped, he said. A new one is currently being made and the “s” is staying.

– Lisa Chmelecki