When District Attorney Ray Gricar goes before the Centre County commissioners today to ask for full-time status a second time, Vicki Bumbarger and John Saylor will be hard-pressed to find good reasons for saying no.

Gricar, who has operated on a $40,000 year part-time salary since he took office in January 1986, says he has worked 50, even 55 hours, each week to do the district attorney's job justice.

Yet Saylor says the county can ill afford such a salary increase, which would pay Gricar $79,000 a year.

When running for re-election last November, Gricar said he would seek additional work in the private sector should the commissioners deny his request again.

Faulting Gricar for trying to make ends meet any way he can is unfair. At the same time, a part-time district attorney is the last thing Centre County needs.

A sticking point for Bumbarger is the county's lack of control over Gricar's salary. Under state policy, a full-time county district attorney receives pay raises at the same rate as common pleas judges -- taking the element of choice out of the county's hands.

But what is so bad about paying for a good prosecutor?

Crime in this county has risen at a steady rate -- higher than all other Pennsylvania counties of its size -- and assistant district attorneys have little time to assume the hours an increased caseload would bring.

On a law enforcement budget of $40 million each year and with an assistant district attorney spot still unfilled, there is little reason why Centre County should settle for part-time prosecution. It is, as Ray Gricar says, "pretty silly."

As Commissioner Keith Bierly, a Gricar supporter, points out, Centre County is no longer as safe and neighborly a place as its image evokes. Consequently, county commissioners need to ensure that the district attorney has abundant time and opportunity to enforce the law. A full-time job deserves full-time pay.

According to Gricar, a public servant should devote himself to the people full-time. He has made the commitment to do so.

It is time for the county commissioners to affirm his promise.