Folklorists have a term for stories that come from a second- or third-hand source. They're labeled FOAF, or friend of a friend.

We've all encountered FOAFs: Someone heard about something that happened to their best friend's sister's neighbor's cousin's kid. The problem is that when the trail is followed, either the subject of the story doesn't exist, or you find that he himself heard it from someone else.

Among such stories are reports that certain fast-food restaurants use worms instead of beef in hamburgers (they don't); that street-gang members are hiding under women's cars as part of their initiation (they're not); or that swimming pools contain a chemical that reveals if someone is relieving themselves in the water (no such thing that we know of, but not a bad idea).

While FOAFs are entertaining, either as humor or as campfire stories for the 21st century, they should never be the basis for legislation.

Apparently Sen. D. Chris Buttars didn't get the memo.

Buttars is the sponsor of Senate Bill 111, The Free Exercise of Religion Without Government Interference Act. The bill is supposed to guarantee one's right to wear a religious emblem or express one's faith in a public place.

The bill puzzled civil libertarians who thought individual expressions of faith were already protected by two clauses in the First Amendment and a body of case law.

At the moment, the bill appears dead, having been withdrawn to the Senate Rules Committee. That's good, since it appears to be based on a FOAF.

When he was presenting the bill, Buttars cited an incident at a junior high school in his district where a child was sent home for wearing a CTR shirt. CTR stands for "Choose the Right," a slogan from the LDS Church's Primary program. Buttars said his bill would ensure that children could wear such shirts with religious themes in public schools.

The problem is verifying the story has proved to be impossible. It takes a tremendous suspension of disbelief to accept the tale as true.

In a state where more than half the population are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the CTR shirt incident, if it had happened, should have ignited a firestorm of righteous indignation visible from space.

Yet, most of the media accounts referring to the story are just about Buttars's bill and his claim that this was its basis. Those who have heard the story all point to Buttars as their original source.

Even the Rutherford Institute, the conservative civil liberties organization that specializes in such cases, never heard of the incident. The First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., heard about the case, but only from someone who was quoting Buttars.

Nor have officials in the Jordan School District, where the offense allegedly happened, or the Utah State Office of Education heard about the incident. Carol Lear, the USOE's director of government and legislative relations, said the issue never came up, and if it did she would have told the school officials involved that religious T-shirts are permitted in the schools.

We've tried checking with Buttars to find out the source of his information, but he has not responded to numerous messages left with him.

The more you look, the less likely the story appears.

Mr. Buttars, could you please clear all this up? Would you please come forward with the source of your bill? The public should know the source -- that is, if there is a source.

If not, Buttars should offer a public apology during his resignation speech. If he's making up stories, he cannot be trusted to enact sound laws for the people of Utah. Public policy should be based on something more solid than urban legend.