Truck wreck blocks Highway 26

This 2005 International truck and trailer blocked Highway 26 for more than six hours early July 21 when the driver, Vinod Chaher, 33, Pasco, lost control and crashed just east of the Dusty elevators. The truck was loaded with rolls of toilet paper stock. Each of the eight rolls weighed approximately two tons. Trooper Michael Murphy, who investigated, said the trucker told him he lost control of the westbound rig at 4:50 a.m. after

attempting to avoid hitting a deer. Chaher, who was uninjured, was able to crawl out of the crushed cab. State highway crews shut down Highway 26 between Dusty and the Palouse Empire Fairground. Traffic was detoured along the McNeilly, Union Flat and Young roads into Dusty. The highway was officially opened for traffic at 11:20 a.m. The tissue rolls were pulled out of the wrecked trailer with a fork lift from the Dusty Farm Co-Op. The rolls were from the mill at Lewiston.