FLDS leader Warren Jeffs has received a steady stream of visitors at the Purgatory Correctional Facility since his incarceration on Sept. 5. The Salt Lake Tribune received a weekly list of Jeffs' visitors from the Washington County Sheriff's Office in response to a public records request.

A person who wants to visit with Jeffs submits his or her name, which he then approves.

Of course, his attorneys — Richard Wright of Las Vegas, and Salt Lakers Wally Bugden and Tara Isaacson — stop by frequently.

So does his brother Nephi Jeffs, who is said to be Jeffs' personal assistant and secretary. Lindsay Barlow, who may be one of 12 men Jeffs appointed to serve on a high priests council, also has paid weekly visits.

J. Dee Roundy, son of Sam Roundy Jr., stopped by the jail once. So did Ron Yengich, the famed Salt Lake lawyer; he was on Jeffs' short-list of possible defense attorneys.

Jeffs has had a handful of other visitors, but I'm not sure who they are. Anyone have a guess as to who ''Mack''' is?

I am wondering if the ''Ferron Holt'' on the list is the same Ferron Holt who is the fine arts coordinator for the Washington County School District. That would make sense, given Jeffs' love of music. That Holt has not yet returned my call.

By the way, several of the 10 FLDS members who attended Jeffs' Nov. 21 hearing are believed to belong to the high priests council, a governing group that may be helping to run the church. They include Lamar Johnson, Joe Jeffs and Dale Jeffs, who are the sect leader's half brothers.

Before I get to Jane Doe's testimony, I want to share something else with you.

Much is being made of polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs' admonishment that Jane Doe and her husband "go forth and multiply and replenish the earth."

I don't know if these are the words Jeffs used at Doe's wedding but here is the full wording of the Marriage Covenant from "In Light and Truth," a book of marriage and family-rearing advice used by FLDS members:

Do you, Brother _____, take Sister ______ by the right hand, and receive her unto yourself to be your lawful and wedded wife, and you to be her lawful and wedded husband, for time and all eternity, with a covenant and promise, on your part, that you will fulfill all the laws, rites and ordinances pertaining to this holy bond of matrimony in the new and everlasting covenant, doing this in the presence of God, angels, and these witnesses, of your own free will and choice?

Do you, Sister _____, take Brother _____ by the right hand, and give yourself to him to be his lawful and wedded wife for time and all eternity, with a covenant and promise on your part, that you will fulfill all the laws, rites and ordinances pertaining to this holy bond of matrimony in the new and everlasting covenant, doing this in the presence of God, angels, and these witnesses, of your own free will and choice?

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by authority of the Holy Priesthood, I pronounce you legally and lawfully husband and wife, for time and for all eternity, and I seal upon you the blessings of the holy resurrection, clothed with glory, immortality, and eternal lives; and I seal upon you the blessings of thrones and dominions, and principalities, and powers, and exaltations, together with the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I say unto you, be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, that you may have joy and rejoicing in your posterity in the day of the Lord Jesus.

All these blessings, together with all other blessings pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, I seal upon your heads, through your faithfulness unto the end, by the authority of the Holy Priesthood, and in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

The state's second witness was Theresa Blackmore, another of Jane Doe's sisters. She spent about 15 minutes on the stand.

Blackmore also attended Alta Academy, leaving school in the 10th grade. She was married at age 17 to Roy Blackmore in Canada.

The FLDS have a community just outside of Creston, which at the time Theresa was married was overseen by Winston Blackmore.

Blackmore, like her sister Rebecca, talked about the classes she took at Alta Academy that prepared her for her future role as wife and mother.

Jeffs, she said, "'taught that your husband is your link to heaven."

She said Jane Doe called to tell her that she was about to be married. The day before the marriage Jane Doe was "very emotional," Blackmore said. "She was crying. She did not want to get married."

They spoke again two days later and Jane Doe was "still very sad," Blackmore said.

Jane Doe and her husband came to Canada to visit in the early summer of 2001 and Blackmore described them as "very unhappy." She said that Fred Jessop, Jane Doe's stepfather, had sent them on the trip in hopes it would improve their relationship.

One night, Jane Doe came into the kitchen crying and said her husband was forcing her to have sex, Blackmore said.

She visited Hildale later that fall and described Jane Doe as a "body with no soul," adding that her sister slept a lot, was sad, depressed and "terrified" about her husband.

Blackmore said she encouraged Jane Doe to talk to Warren Jeffs about the situation and even made an appointment for her.

She and her husband later accompanied Jane Doe to another meeting with Jeffs, where they asked if Jane Doe could come to Canada for a while. Jeffs, after learning that Jane Doe's husband had given his OK, approved the trip.

Jane Doe spent September through spring in Canada. While there, she had a traumatic miscarriage, Blackmore said. Jane Blackmore, then one of Winston's wives and a midwife, gave her care.

When spring arrived, Jane Doe's husband came to bring her home.

The first witness the state called was Rebecca Musser, Jane Doe's older sister.

She handled herself very well, answering questions directly, confidently and clearly. The biggest surprise was to hear that she had been married, at age 19, to former FLDS leader Rulon Jeffs. At the time, Jeffs was 83.

Washington County Deputy Attorney Ryan Shaum questioned Musser, leading her through a description of her life and her observations of what happened with her sister's marriage.

Musser said she grew up in Salt Lake City and attended Alta Academy, where Warren Jeffs served as principal, from second grade through 12th grade. The next year she began teaching at the school. She also married Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father.

''Rulon told my father and my father told me,'' Musser said in explaining how the marriage was arranged.

Watching her on the stand, it was hard to imagine her as a plural wife to the aging leader. I would love to see a picture of her then.

She said the curriculum at the school included math, spelling, reading, history from a religious perspective and other subjects. Mostly she focused on the priesthood history classes attended by girls, during which Warren would give instructions on how ''to be a good priesthood girl'' and how to become a ''mother in Zion.''

Dating was forbidden, Musser said, and girls were taught to treat boys like ''snakes.''

If you were a good priesthood girl and kept yourself clean, she said, you would be worthy to be placed with a good priesthood man.

''Placed'' is how the FLDS describe their assigned marriages, which are referred to as ''placement marriages.'' A girl is ''placed'' beside a man.

Musser said that once a girl was placed with a man, he would teach her everything she needed to know about sex. There is no such thing as a maturation program, she said, since the FLDS believe it is inappropriate to ''tread on those sacred matters.''

Musser's testimony gave the courtroom audience a peek inside the inner circle of the FLDS -- and it's a view at odds with what you might think. She said her faith began to waiver as she watched how decisions were really made, particularly given the whole marriage by revelation concept.

Musser said that potential matches were often dinner table talk.

She also described Rulon as quite incapacitated after experiencing a 1997 stroke, five years before he died.

''People were not told how serious it was,'' she said. ''Everything that happened was presided by Warren.''

Musser said that some months before he died, Rulon became quite agitated about the situation. One time, as he sat in his room, he leaned forward and pounded on a table and said, ''I want my job back.'' Several wives told him he still had his position, Musser said. Rulon then said, ''No, I don't.''

She said at that point Warren was brought into the room to reassure his father that he was still the FLDS leader and that Warren was just helping out.

Musser then went on to describe how she learned about her sister's marriage. Her mother and younger siblings, including Jane Doe, had been relocated from Salt Lake City to Hildale after their father was expelled from the faith -- apparently because he had been physically abusive to the children.

The mother had been reassigned to Fred Jessop, then the FLDS bishop, bringing Doe, then 13, and her other children to Jessop's home in Hildale.

Musser also was living in Hildale then.

Jane Doe called her, crying, and told her she was to be married, Musser said.

''It was shocking and horrific,'' she said. ''She was 14.''

Nevertheless, Musser tried to encourage her sister about the situation. She helped their mother make Jane Doe's wedding dress.

''There were times she was sobbing so much in trying to get the lace pinned on her dress we'd have to wait for her to stop,'' Musser said.

Musser also helped decorate the room that Doe and her husband returned to after their ceremony with chocolates, flowers and welcoming signs.

''So many people were trying to make a very fun event,'' she said.

Musser said that after the marriage, as Doe's unhappiness increased, she encouraged her sister to meet with Warren and just ''tell him what's going on. I'm sure he'll help you.''

Musser said she talked to Jeffs, too, and was told to encourage her sister to be happy because ''if this falls apart, we could have some problems.'' Musser said the comment came because of efforts by Utah and Arizona to tighten laws surrounding underage marriages.

Musser may have been shocked by her sister's wedding, but Jeffs' lawyers pointed out she went full steam ahead in helping the marriage along. So did Doe's mother, Doe's stepfather and, apparently, everyone around her.

Wally Bugden, one of Jeffs' attorneys, questioned Musser about the teachings of the FLDS, focusing on statements about how fathers and husbands are to treat their children and wives. Those teachings, Bugden pointed out, emphasize acting with kindness, love and charity.

''Does that sound like something you would have heard from Mr. Jeffs,'' he asked Musser.

''Yes,'' she said. At one point she said that actions did not always live up to the teachings.

Bugden also tried to get Musser to acknowledge that occasionally women did reject the prophet's marriage assignments. She said she knew of two or three women who had done so, but ''it is something very looked down upon in their society.''

Bugden got Musser to agree that once FLDS leaders learned their father was beating up his sons, they stepped in to protect the family.

Bugden also pointed out that while Musser claimed she would have done anything for her sister, she never told Jane Doe not to proceed with the marriage, or to ask their father or brothers for help.

Bugden also zeroed in on Musser's meetings with Jeffs.

''Did he want the marriage to succeed?'' Bugden asked Musser. ''Did he want the couple to be happy?''

''Yes,'' she said.

But Musser did say that, within the boundaries set by the FLDS' rigid society where defying leaders is unacceptable, she did try to speak out on her sister's behalf.

She met with Jeffs and his father a couple of days before Jane Doe's wedding and said she had ''some concern'' about the arrangement. She said at that meeting the group discussed the fact that Fred Jessop was pushing the arrangement.

At one point, she said, Rulon asked, ''What the hell is Fred thinking?''

Despite that, things proceeded.

Musser left the community in 2004, offering little explanation about how that happened.

It was Musser who first contacted the Washington County Sheriff's Office in the summer of 2005 to ask about filing a complaint against Jeffs.

The 5th District Court arranged periodic breaks throughout the day for the Warren Jeffs hearing, allowing the media to rush out of the courtroom and try to file stories as the hearing progressed. I called in Web updates during those breaks.

It was not an easy thing to do, however.

The court does not allow reporters to bring cell phones into the hearing and since the parking lot was crammed with satellite TV trucks, I didn't bother trying to park at the courthouse -- which meant I had nowhere to leave my purse and cell phone.

All the shouting aside, Rod Decker is actually a nice guy. He talked his crew into letting me leave my bag in their TV truck.

The first break came about 10:30 and lasted all of 10 minutes. I rushed out of the building, ran over to the truck to grab my cellphone and frantically dictated the morning's events to editor Peg McEntee.

Time ran out, so I ripped all my notes from my notebook and handed them to Tribune reporter Mark Havnes, who was posted outside the courthouse. Mark went over my notes more slowly with McEntee. Lucky for Mark, my handwriting is fairly legible.

The lunch break lasted a little over an hour, which made calling in an update easier. The afternoon break, which came at 2:30, was worse: it lasted five minutes.

Web updates are a priority for The Tribune. We reporters are still trying to get the knack of writing for the Web and then again for print, especially on breaking news events like the Jeffs' hearing.

Since I had called in four Web updates, it felt like I had already shared much of the day's proceedings with Tribune readers. When I wrote the print version of my story about the hearing, I really condensed things. I have to remember that most readers still haven't heard the story until they read it in print, something I'll keep in mind at the next hearing.

Long hearings like this are a challenge, too. By mid-afternoon, many of the print reporters were getting hand cramps from trying to record all the details and statements. Few of those comments or details actually end up in a story given space restrictions. But you still want them in your notebook because they may come in handy in future stories -- or this blog.

The next few posts will include more details from the hearing.

OK, I finally have a few minutes to give you my view of how the first hearing for FLDS leader Warren S. Jeffs went last week.

I was nervous heading into it because I expected quite a crush of media and onlookers. It was not as bad as I expected.

I got to the courthouse about 7:45 a.m. and there was already a long line of people waiting for the doors to open. The patio outside the courthouse was crowded with television cameras.

I know some have reported that the security was higher than before, but I had the opposite impression. There was an officer on the hill overlooking the courthouse and a few on the buildings across the street, but any other officers keeping watch were more low-profile.

The attorneys were allowed into the courtroom first, followed by the media. We filled the first two rows behind the bar. Court TV sent a three-person crew. Jon Krakauer was there. So were three Canadian reporters, as well as every media outlet in Utah and many from Nevada and Arizona.

I sat about two feet behind and to the left of Jeffs -- right in front of Brett Lyman, a sheriff's deputy. Now, no offense, but Lyman is standing guard for a reason. He is a big, beefy guy. During the morning session, I had to crane my neck to the left or right to get a clear view of the witness stand. In the afternoon, I asked Brett, sweetly of course, if he would mind squishing a tad to the right. He obliged and my view was unobstructed.

Jane Doe and her sisters sat in the jury box. It was quite a moment when she came into the courtroom and we finally got to see this young woman who has stepped forward with her allegations against Jeffs. She is about 8 1/2 months pregnant, which was a surprise, too.

Warren Jeffs got his first recent look at her, too, and conferred with his attorneys for several minutes after Doe and her sisters entered the courtroom.

Her attorneys, Roger and Greg Hoole, sat beside her. Also in the jury box: Sam Brower, the private investigator who probably played some role in getting Jane Doe to come forward; Bruce Wisan, the court-appointed fiduciary managing the FLDS church's United Effort Plan Trust; and Jeff Shields, Wisan's attorney.

Wisan and Shields were there to get a look at Jane Doe and hear her story first-hand. She is suing Jeffs and the United Effort Plan Trust, reportedly for millions, and they wanted to gauge her credibility.

Also in the courtroom were 10 FLDS men, all there to give a show of support for Jeffs. They sat right behind me and kept silent throughout the day-long proceedings. I asked Lamar Johnson, a Hildale city councilman, if he or any of the others would care to make a comment at the end of the day and a tight-lipped Johnson shook his head and said no.

The supporters included Joseph Jeffs, Warren's half-brother; Sam Roundy Sr., a former town officer; and Guy Nielsen, a son of Wendell Nielsen, who is said to be a counselor to Warren. Wendell Nielsen also is a former head of Western Precision, the machining company that some detractors say has funneled a lot of money to the FLDS church.

The red Escalade that Warren was riding in when arrested was registered to John Wayman, who is now the head of the company, which relocated this summer to Las Vegas and changed its name to Newera Manufacturing.

Jeffs really beamed at these supporters.

Fifth District Judge James L. Shumate wasted little time getting down to business when he entered the courtroom, calling up the first witness at just after 8:30 a.m.

Continued.

Many people have asked me how The Tribune got a picture of FLDS leader Warren S. Jeffs on the night he was arrested. Here's the answer: We asked for it.

Tribune Reporter Nate Carlisle filed a records request with the Nevada Department of Public Safety a few days after Jeffs was
arrested on Aug. 28, requesting Nevada Highway Patrol’s Arrest Report and other documents.

I filed a similar request with the Las Vegas office of the FBI. The FBI said it had zip.

But last week, Carlisle received a package from the Nevada Attorney General's Office that included a whole bunch of documents -- and photocopies of the snapshots taken the night Jeffs was arrested. The office later emailed the images so we could reprint them in the newspaper.

Trooper Eddie Dutchover, who stopped the vehicle Jeffs was traveling in that night, had described the FLDS leader as dressed like any other Las Vegas tourist. He seemed perplexed when I kept asking for specifics about what he was wearing.

Shorts, T-shirt and tennis shoes, Dutchover said.

He also apparently had on a green baseball cap, which another trooper asked him to remove at some point. That's when there was no mistaking who was standing in front of the troopers: Jeffs, one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives.

Jeffs asked to be allowed to change into a suit, dress shirt and tie before being booked into jail. His mug shot shows him in that attire.

And that allowed many of his followers to dismiss as media fabrications reports he'd shucked the wrist-to-ankle clothing that is mandatory among the FLDS.

Short-sleeve shirts and shorts are no-nos for the FLDS. Numerous teens who've fled or been kicked out of the sect claim they were harassed for wearing such clothing -- or wanting to.

That's why being able to show Jeffs in his man-on-the-run wear was so important.

Well, here we go.

Warren S. Jeffs will be in court today and we'll learn just what happened when he allegedly ordered a 14-year-old girl to marry a 19-year-old man in 2001.

Media have come from around the world to witness the courtroom drama. By 9 p.m. last night, the parking lot outside the 5th District Courthouse in St. George was already packed with TV satellite trucks and various reporters were doing live broadcasts in
front of the building.

Other than a brother or two, I don't expect any FLDS members to show up. I have heard, however, the FLDS faithful are praying and fasting for their leader.

Jane Doe IV, as she is being called, is scheduled to be in court, accompanied by family members and her attorneys. And dozens of onlookers hope to crowd in, too, to see the man who has been the subject of such speculation and attention. Among them:
Gary Engels, the Mohave County, Ariz., special investigator, and court-appointed fiduciary Bruce Wisan, who is running the polygamous sect's United Effort Plan Trust.

I expect it to be a long day.

Stanley Shepp refused to give me an interview after his court victory giving him the right to talk to his daughter about his fundamentalist Mormon beliefs. But he did give Jay Carper an interview. You can read it here:


http://www.historycarper.com/wordpress/?p=92

On Monday, the Hildale City Council voted to not take any action on the subdivision plat map submitted by Bruce Wisan, overseer of the United Effort Plan Trust. By law, the council approval is required.

The subdivision map divides the community into individual lots -- necessary for assigning individual tax notices and being able to offer property deeds to residents.

Wisan has said in the past that if the council refused to act, he would have to take them to court. Looks like that is where this is headed.

Wisan is planning to hold a public meeting Monday night at Hildale City Hall to review the newly reformed United Effort Plan Trust. If the past two hearings held there are any indication, the room will be full of former FLDS members kicked out by Warren Jeffs. The faithful will stay away.

It could be an interesting meeting, though the big show will take place Tuesday at the 5th District Court in St. George as the preliminary hearing for Warren Jeffs gets underway.

Back to Hildale and the UEP: Wisan is proposing that those who want property deeds pay $20,000 for their lots, arguing that someone has to contribute to the administrative and other expenses being incurred by the UEP.

But even some apostates are heated up over that idea because many believe they already paid, through donations and labor, for the land.

One other bit of news: Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Matt Fischer, who has been assigned to the community for over a year, is moving to a new assignment. A replacement, funded through the Utah Safety Net, will be given the post, according to Paul Murphy, spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.