Published: August 15, 2009 10:59 am      

It may not be Alice's Restaurant - but you can learn all at Quillen's

GREENUP — Want to know who’s going to win an election or just what’s going on generally in Greenup County?

Go ahead, go up to the courthouse and ask Judge/Executive Bobby Carpenter or down to the local newspaper office. But if you want to know what’s really going on, go to Quillen’s Service Station in this small, northeastern Kentucky town.



“Just sit and listen – don’t say anything – just sit and listen,” counseled Joe Ratliff, a regular at the almost continuous social club of mostly retired men. “You’ll learn all you need to know.”

“They’ll talk about anything you want to know about,” said Ernie West.

Some of it is even true, he said.

Funny thing about Quillen’s. You can’t buy gasoline there. The small, wood frame exterior opens onto a small outer room and a larger one behind. Behind the old time hand crank cash register sits Joe Quillen, 82, proprietor and chairman of the board.

Board members vary according to the hour - or minute. But usually, there are five or six members, mostly men in their 60s, 70s, or even 80s seated on folding chairs arranged in a semi-circle on the concrete floor, facing Quillen.

Another funny thing you notice. Just as one board member gets up to leave, someone new walks in and takes his seat. But no money changes hand and except for a man who came in looking for change, the cash register remains silent.

There’s not a lot of commerce going on. Except for opinions and a few good-humored insults.

“”Everybody’s got a right to an opinion,” said Quillen. “But we stay away from religion and politics. We don’t want it to get too hot.”

“Well, we’ve had a few heated arguments,” said Herschell Miller, who used to work for Quillen.

“I don’t see how they get along,” said Clinton Smith. “Some of ‘em are Republicans and some of ‘em are Democrats – but I guess it’s because they’re all interrelated.”

Quillen is a Republican but that leaves him outnumbered 4-1, he said. Ratliff goes him one better. “I’m a thoroughbred Republican – and proud of it!”

That’s when the devoutly Democrat Miller re-enters the fray. “He’s a stinkin’ Republican is what he is.”

Quillen doesn’t let party loyalty get in the way, pointing to Ratliff.

“He was raised up down here in a holler where negotiations in a marble game was you pulled a knife and he pulled out a gun,” Quillen quips. “And they thought that was negotiating.”

Quillen’s has been in its present location for 20 years, right on the main drag in downtown Greenup. But the gas company took out the pumps years ago. Before that, the station was located up the way, where McDonald’s is on U.S. 23. Now, Quillen says, he works now and then, repairing a car or a lawn mower for folks “who aren’t in too much of a hurry.”

“But the temperature’s got to be right,” said Blevins with a smirk. “If it’s below 40 he don’t work and if it’s above 80 he don’t work then either.”

It’s more social club than commercial enterprise. And civic club. The small building even once served as a makeshift site for Sunday School classes when a nearby church was undergoing construction. Quillen said they occasionally have fish fries at the station, though not so many as in the past. And they’ve been known to lend a hand when needed. Quillen said he even helped put up signs next door at a Democrat’s campaign headquarters – though he said he doesn’t want that to get around.

But mostly he presides over the group who gather to talk about everything and everybody. Bob Browning, West, Bob and Steve Heinemann, Glenn Blevins, Miller, Carroll Bailey, Bill Fannin, Bud Pauley and others.

“They know everything – EVERYTHING,” said state Rep. Tanya Pullin, D-South Shore, who visits now and then to get a read on the pulse of the community – and to take them donuts. “And what they don’t know, they’ll figure out for you. And they’ll tell you when they do.”

Pullin said the group not only knows what’s going on in their community today – they know every bit of history for the past 40 years so they understand what led to today’s news.

“They’re really smart and they’re really good people,” she said.

Smart enough to hold all the trials of people charged in Greenup County, although the verdict is unofficial.

“Most people we convict – we know they’re all crooked,” said Quillen.

Smith, who calls himself a transplanted “outcast” from Pike County, said the real name of the establishment should be “Quillen’s Adult Day Care Center.” But they all appear pretty spry, regardless of age. Nonetheless, said Browning, the place has a therapeutic effect.

“You come in here feeling bad and you leave feeling pretty good.”

Smith knows why.

“This is the greatest bunch of guys you’ll ever see,” he said. “They really are.”

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com.