By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

People run Fourth of July fireworks stands for various reasons.

Paul Morrison of Hillsboro was looking for a way to earn a little extra money when he contracted with a wholesale company to sell fireworks out of a trailer at the Hillsboro American Legion building.

“I grew up working, and I wanted something to do,” he said.

He found the location and pays rent out of his commission.

Morrison, 52, didn’t finish high school but got his GED. He felt he wasn’t smart enough to go to college, but his wife convinced him to take an IQ test and go back to school. He now has a master’s degree in education with 55 doctoral hours in human anatomy.

He and his wife moved to Hillsboro in 2011 after they found a house that met their down-payment requirements.

Morrison has taught in schools with as many as 3,000 students and as few as 300. Since moving to Hillsboro, he has been substitute-teaching in area high schools. He spent April and May as a full-time teacher at Centre after a science teacher quit. He will fill in for another teacher at Centre this fall.

He wants to get a full-time teaching job, but with his educational level, local districts can’t afford to hire him, he said.

“I’m enjoying this,” he said Tuesday. “This is fun.”

The Robert Rempel family has run a fireworks stand in Hillsboro for three or four years.

Daniel Moss was operating the stand Tuesday at 123 N. Ash St. while the Rempels took their son, Colton, to Kansas City for a medical treatment.

“I’m helping the family out this year,” Moss said. “It’s been a good year. There’s not much left.”

He expected to close up shop at noon.