BELLEFONTE -- Ray Gricar's attempt to become a full-time district attorney with a full-time salary collapsed yesterday despite nearly two hours of testimonials from judges, lawyers and a litany of law enforcement officials.

"We could have brought in Bush, Thornburgh, Bennett, Casey and Preate and still lost it," said a frustrated Keith Bierly, the only one of the three Centre County Commissioners who backed Gricar's bid.

Neither Vicki Bumbarger nor John Saylor -- Bierly's colleagues -- seconded his motion, ending the issue before a vote could be taken.

Gricar, who ran his 1989 re-election campaign on the premise that Centre County deserved a full-time district attorney, immediately vowed to cut his work hours nearly in half.

"Philosophically, it'll be very difficult," he said after the meeting. "But I won't work full-time. The idea of a part-time district attorney for Centre County is just not sensible."

Gricar said he typically works 50, even 60 hour weeks, far above the 37.5 weekly hours the state considers "full-time." He first raised the salary proposal in 1985.

Pennsylvania currently has 16 full-time county district attorneys, the newest of which is Cumberland County prosecutor Michael Eakin, who won his full-time post last May.

Gricar would have earned $79,000 if the commissioners had approved his proposal. He currently makes $40,000, the stipend set by the state for part-time district attorneys.

Bumbarger and Saylor ended up on the same side, but said they opposed Gricar for entirely different reasons -- Saylor citing money and Bumbarger power.

Bumbarger said repeatedly she worried that making the district attorney's office full-time would give too much budgetary control to the state, which mandates that full-time DAs be paid $1,000 less than common pleas judges.

"County government as a whole has to be run like a business," she said. "I cannot be responsible to my taxpayers by allowing another business enterprise -- namely the state -- to determine how much we pay our employees."

She proposed paying Gricar through a purchase service contract which would reward him with cash for extra hours worked -- an idea many Gricar supporters said would be illegal.

"Keep the control in the county where it should be," Bumbarger said.

Saylor, on the other hand, worried about the high costs of a raise and said changing Gricar's salary during the middle of a term might also be illegal.

"He's being paid $40,000," Saylor said. "That's a pretty good salary for a professional of Ray Gricar's ability."

Centre County's $32 million budget currently has $1 million in unreserved funds, up from $10,000 when the current commissioners took office in 1987.

Gricar cited as a chief reason for his request the burgeoning caseload his office faces. Gricar and his assistants handled 1,646 cases last year, up from 1,276 in 1988.

Five assistant district attorney posts, one currently vacant, help Gricar with his caseload. He vowed to ask for another in December if case volume becomes too overwhelming.

Supporters of Gricar's proposal packed the commissioners' boardroom to give statements of support. Centre County President Judge Charles C. Brown Jr., himself a former district attorney, said his court would benefit greatly from a full-time post.

"This is not the production of pickles we're talking about," Brown said. "Centre County deserves a full-time DA. Period."

Common Pleas Judge David Grine, the former Clearfield County district attorney, several lawyers and police chiefs from Bellefonte, State College, Philipsburg and Patton and Ferguson townships echoed Brown's sentiments.

"You need to look beyond Ray Gricar," said State College Police Chief Elwood G. Williams Jr. "What you need to do today is take this step forward and set a precedent in the future."

Gricar, who said he would continue the full-time fight once a new board of commissioners is elected, said even though he has lost for the time being, he won't "have one foot out the door."

"The people of Centre County have really lost," Gricar said. "I was elected to be district attorney. I will be a good district attorney. But now I'm a good part-time district attorney."