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Staffreport @redbluffnews on Twitter CORNING The Tehama County Sheriff's Department is investigat- ing a suspicious item that tempo- rarily closed the Rolling Hills Ca- sino parking lot for a few hours Wednesday evening. Rolling Hills Casino Security called the sheriff's department at 5:54 p.m. Wednesday after finding whatappearedtobetwolandscap- ing cinder blocks about 100 yards east of the Inn at Rolling Hills en- trance and 150 yards from the ca- sino's south entrance, according to a Sheriff's press release issued Thursday morning. Upon arrival at 6:12 p.m., depu- ties saw the two blocks stacked on top of one another with the lower cinder block appearing to have a void or possibly be hollow. The top cinder block appeared to be solid. Deputies closed the south parking lot,keepingpeopleoutoftheclosed area with assistance from casino security and contacted the Butte County Interagency Bomb Squad. After a brief evaluation of the item via telephone, the Butte County Bomb Squad advised they would be responding. Arriving on sceneabout9:15p.m.,BombSquad personneltookanx-rayoftheitem before removing the top cinder block and determining the item to beharmless.Thesouthparkinglot was reopened at about 10:11 p.m. It is unknown who placed the item at that location and Rolling Hills Casino security will continue to investigate the incident. ROLLING HILLS Suspicious item found at casino under investigation By Margaret Baum Daily News correspondent SACRAMENTO A criminalist spe- cializing in forensic DNA analysis told a Sacramento jury Thursday that samples collected from the site where the body of a 14-year- old Red Bluff girl was found in 2013 could belong to the man charged with her murder. Rebecca Gaxiola, a criminal- ist with the Department of Jus- tice in Redding, took the stand during the murder trial of Quen- tin Bealer, 42. Bealer is charged with homicide in the strangling death of Marysa Nichols. Nich- ols' body was found half a mile behind Red Bluff High School Feb. 28, 2013. "It is my opinion it is his DNA, but I can't say that with 100 per- cent certainty since we don't have samples from everyone in the world," Gaxiola told the jury. Gaxiola explained that the testing isn't as straightforward as people may think. She said a result could be inconclusive or come back with either a person being included or excluded. If a suspect is included it is possible the sample could contain their DNA. In the samples she tested, Gax- iola noted the different samples came back with similar results. In each, the "results contained a mixture of DNA consistent with Marysa and one other male con- tributor," Gaxiola said. "Bealer could not be excluded as the male contributor. There was strong evi- dence that he is the male contrib- utor." Gaxiola explained that the chance the male contributor was a random, unrelated individual was about 1 in 6.9 quadrillion Af- rican Americans and 1 in about 130 trillion Caucasians. "Over 99 percent of the DNA in our bodies is the same from person to person," Gaxiola ex- plained. "These are the regions that code for human develop- ment and basic human func- tions. Less than 1 percent of DNA is different from person to per- son." According to Gaxiola, not ev- ery piece of evidence is usually tested because the testing can be time consuming and expensive. She said that for this case she se- lected the pieces of evidence that had the greatest likelihood of pro- ducing results. BEALER TRIAL CriminalistdetailsDNAcollection By Heather Hoelscher hhoelscher@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Heather on Twitter CORNING Mayor Gary Strack proclaimed May 18 as Tehama County Peace Officers' Memo- rial Day Tuesday in conjunc- tion with the observance of Na- tional Peace Officer Week and California Peace Officers' Me- morial Day. The 22nd annual county me- morial observance ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at High Point Assembly Church, formerly Bethel Assembly, on Luther Road in Red Bluff. The day is a commemora- tion of those noble officers who have tragically sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, accord- ing to the proclamation intro- duced May 10 at the city coun- cil meeting. Many dedicated men and women have chosen law en- forcement as a career and face extraordinary risk and danger daily in an effort to preserve our freedoms and security. The Corning City Hall and Transportation Center flags will be flown at half-staff on this day in honor of all peace officers killed in the line of duty. Corning Police Chief Jeremiah Fears said that last year alone, four officers and two K-9 officers have died in California. Of all the promises America offers, none is more precious or more elusive than the right to be free from crime and vio- lence, the proclamation stated. The special observance pro- vides all citizens of Tehama County and the City of Corning the opportunity to appreciate these heroic men and woman. TEHAMA COUNTY MAYOR PROCLAIMS MAY 18 AS PEACE OFFICERS MEMORIAL DAY DAILYNEWS—FILE Tehama County Sheriff's Deputy Shelley McCullough lights a candle for Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputy Ricky Del Florentino on Wednesday at the 21st annual Tehama County Peace Officers Memorial Service held at Bethel Assembly of God Church. Community.....A3 Education........A4 Lifestyles........A5 Opinion............A6 Weather ..........A8 Sports.............. B1 Index............... ## INDEX Have a great day, Wesley Combes! GOOD MORNING U DowJonesIndustrial 17,720.50 (+9.38) D Standard & Poor's 2064.11 (-0.35) D Nasdaq 4737.33 (-23.36) BUSINESS Obama will be first president to tour relics of U.S. nuclear attack, stirring debate on both sides of Pacific. PAGE B6 JAPAN Obamapusheslimits with Hiroshima visit O en at odds, House Speaker and presumptive GOP nomi- nee pledge to work together for fall election victory. PAGE B4 POLITICS Trump, Ryan see end in sight of GOP ri Check out what's going on in your neighborhood and the community. PAGE A2 LOCAL CALENDAR Corningrecognizesfallenofficersinceremony By Julie Zeeb jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Zeeb on Twitter RED BLUFF The Red Bluff Union High School Ag Leadership class is looking to make a difference and raise awareness through the Dance Away Lyme Disease Barn Dance scheduled for 6-10 p.m. on Saturday, May 21. The event, which will be at the Tehama District Fairgrounds, is a community service project the class came up with after one of their fellow ag-leadership mem- bers was diagnosed with the dis- ease, event co-coordinator Justin Croman said. Emyli Palmer, 15, who is also a Tehama County Beef Ambassa- dor, missed getting some of the routine testing in eighth grade and has probably had the dis- ease for about two years, but just didn't know it, she said. "I was just diagnosed with it recently and there are two dif- ferent forms," Palmer said. "It attacks my joints and muscles, which means I had to get out of sports and it's also neuro- logical, which has caused me to start stuttering and sometimes forget what I was saying mid- sentence or what or if I've eaten something for breakfast." The disease is one that is not as widely known in California and expensive to pay for, she said. "I want to raise awareness and help people with it," Palmer said. The event, which will be at the FUNDRAISER Ag Leadership class looking to raise awareness of Lyme Disease It is unknown who placed the item at that location and Rolling Hills Casino security will continue to investigate the incident. DNA PAGE 7 LYME PAGE 7 » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, May 13, 2016 50CENTS AN EDITION OF THE CHICO ENTERPRISE-RECORD Anniversary DWR celebrates 50 years in Red Bluff community Community A3 Upcoming events Whittenberg to host country fair, meeting Education A4 DON'TBE SCAMMED Scamalerts Readour online scam alert section to learn how to avoid being scammed. VISIT REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM/ SCAMALERT Volume131,issue126 7 58551 69001 9 P/sunny High: Low: 88 55 PAGE A8 Online Find more news on our website. redbluffdailynews.com