Norris, in a statement released yesterday, responded to the discovery Tuesday of a paper list found at Pennsauken High School that led to a junior's arrest.

"My first instinct was to say nothing. Not to risk making something out to be bigger than it is."

So begins the statement by Norris, best known for his starring role on TV's Walker, Texas Ranger.

But then he does respond, speaking up for helping the student involved, while talking up his KickStart program, which has taught martials arts to thousands of Texans as a way of boosting self-esteem.

"My hope is that, should there be substance to these charges, we will not distance ourselves from this young man, but embrace him and give him the help he needs to get on the right path," Norris' note concludes.

That student, 16, was arrested, charged as a juvenile with making terroristic threats, and released to his parents. He was also suspended from school and faces possible expulsion when the school board holds disciplinary hearings.

Pennsauken police found no weapons on the student or in his locker, Superintendent James Chapman said in a previous statement.

The list was meant as a joke, some students have said.

The Pennsauken School Board has adopted a zero-tolerance policy, according to board president Cheryl Link.

"We have to take these things seriously," Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, said this morning. "But there wasn't any indication this kid was the kind of person who would commit violence on anybody."

Calls to school officials, asking for a response to Norris' comments, were not returned this morning.

"In today's world," Norris states, "we must always be vigilant, not just in stepping up protection and emergency preparedness in schools, but in reaching out to those lost souls who feel marginalized and disenfranchised by the world around them."

Norris was recently in the news as a prominent supporter of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

Norris has also been the subject of spoofs online, such as the list of "Chuck Norris Facts" at http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com. Recently, Norris got to turn the tables in a Mountain Dew commercial. The YouTube copy alone (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIgey9NLdhk) has gotten more than 650,000 views.

For more information on KickStart, see text below or go to http://www.kick-start.org.

The full text of Norris' response:

"When I learned yesterday [Wednesday] of the story about a high school student in New Jersey faced with expulsion from school and possible other problems after being charged with compiling a 'hit list' that contained my name, my first instinct was to say nothing. Not to risk making something out to be bigger than it is.

"But I realize that this is not the best course, for such behaviors are exactly the warning signs we have ignored for far too long, emanating from a growing at-risk population of young people in this country.

"In today's world, we must always be vigilant, not just in stepping up protection and emergency preparedness in schools, but in reaching out to those lost souls who feel marginalized and disenfranchised by the world around them.

"It is what I have been doing for more than a decade with my 'KickStart' program, which began in Houston, Texas, teaching 150 at-risk children martial arts as part of the PE curriculum. Since that time, our program, which instills discipline and respect and raises self-esteem, has grown to serve more than 6,000 youngsters year round at 37 schools in Dallas and Houston, Texas. To date, KickStart has graduated more than 40,000 students with many going on to college and becoming successful in their own right.

"My hope is that, should there be substance to these charges, we will not distance ourselves from this young man, but embrace him and give him the help he needs to get on the right path."