EPHRAIM, Sanpete County — Republican delegates from central Utah's House District 68 selected a new man Saturday to represent them at the state Legislature following the resignation of the seat's previous occupant, Richard Wheeler, R-Ephraim.

Brad Winn, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Snow College, defeated Millard County Republican Chairman Peter Greathouse of Lynndyl by nearly a 3-to-1 margin in a special election to replace Wheeler.

Wheeler, also a vice president at Snow and the school's interim president, resigned after he was appointed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Fifth Quorum of the Seventy earlier this year. He said he wanted to avoid potential conflicts resulting from Utah's own brand of separation-of-church-and-state issues.

"I just think it's not fair to either side to do both of those at the same time," he said.

Though technically a freshman representative from District 68, Winn is not new to the Legislature. He served from 2000-03 in northern Utah County's District 57. He said his prior service should help him be an effective legislator.

"It takes a while to understand the way the Legislature works, and I think that will give me a little bit of an advantage. It's one thing to have good ideas, it's another to effectively represent your district. Even if you have a good idea, if you don't have 38 representatives, 16 senators and one governor on your side, all you have is a good idea. It's effective communication and the ability to build coalitions that makes an effective representative."

One specific priority Winn said he would take up would be Utah's battle with Nevada over water rights to aquifers in the western part of the state.

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E-mail: jdh@mail.manti.com