Sonora boy lights Capitol Christmas tree

Though the ceremony surrounding the lighting of the Capitol Christmas tree was canceled in the wake of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, a 9-year-old Sonora boy still got to push the button to turn on the tree’s 10,000 LED lights Wednesday afternoon.

Jeffrey James “J.J.” Paris was chosen by Valley Mountain Regional Center to help light the tree with Gov. Jerry Brown and hang a special hand-made ornament. He represented more than 290,000 people with developmental disabilities.

Because of the shooting, Brown was not present and the lighting took place in a much more subdued fashion: As workers packed up hundreds of plastic folding chairs, a crowd of several dozen gathered and counted down from 10 before J.J. Paris lighted the tree shortly after 5 p.m. “It was awesome,” J.J. said. “I didn’t know I had fans.”

Earlier in the afternoon, J.J. met with Brown for cookies and hot chocolate. He presented the governor with a painting of a Christmas wreath made from the handprints of the students in his fourth-grade class at Curtis Creek Elementary School, east of Sonora.

J.J., who was born in Modesto and lived his first seven years in Waterford, has autism spectrum disorder. When he began showing signs of autism at age 2, J.J. was referred for early intervention services from local behavioral providers coordinated by Valley Mountain Regional Center.

This year, he also was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, yet “has persevered with humor and tenacity,” according to a news release from the California Department of Developmental Services.

J.J. was joined at the Capitol by his family: parents Jeff and Maren, younger brother Austin, 7, and older sister Sonny, 13. Because Sonny already had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, the Parises kept an eye out for potential red flags with J.J.

“Following a great deal of hard work by both J.J. and his family, J.J. now attends school in a general education classroom where he is excelling both academically and socially,” according to the Valley Mountain Regional Center.

“J.J. is a terrific young boy who is very active in and out of school, including Cub Scouts, kung fu, golf, First Tee, 4-H and the school band,” Santi J. Rogers, director of the Department of Developmental Services, said in a news release.

This is the 33rd year a child with an intellectual and/or developmental disability has been selected to participate in the 84-year-old tree-lighting tradition. The Christmas tree is decorated with 900 ornaments created by people with disabilities who receive services from state developmental centers and regional centers.

This was the second time in recent years that a Sonora boy has taken part in this kind of event. In 2011, Johnny Crawford, then 7, helped light the U.S. Capitol tree, which came from the Stanislaus National Forest.

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Sonora boy lights Capitol Christmas tree."