CASTAIC BUSINESSES WORRIED FUNDING WOES PUT LAKE'S FUTURE IN LIMBO.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

CASTAIC - There's a supermarket in town now and a Rite Aid, but Gallions Castaic Corner market has held its own in a town that's a curious mix of fishermen, truckers and miles and miles of new tract housing.

For 34 years, the Gallion family has owned the little market on Parker Road, serving as a rural truck stop long before the Castaic Lake reservoir and surrounding recreation area were built.

The little market flourished then, and as the bigger businesses came in, it held its loyal customers and won the patronage of weekend lake visitors who found it carried one of the biggest bait selections around, owner Steve Gallion said.

``We have tackle, fuel and we're one of the only ones that carry a big supply of bait,'' he said. ``And we have a deli if you want a sandwich. We're just a little market by the lake.''

Now a ripple from the lake has Gallion and some of the other six or seven independent merchants around town wondering if a big chunk of their business could dry up.

Los Angeles County, which oversees recreation at the state-owned lake, wants to return that responsibility to the state because money is tight. At the same time California is facing a huge deficit. State parks officials say they'll do their best to find the money if they have to run the lake's fishing, swimming, camping and boating operations, but they offer no guarantees.

``We would definitely take a look at the cost of operating it if L.A. County gets out of this contract,'' said Roy Stearns, a spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation. ``Under the present budget situation the state is going through, the likelihood of that is unknown.''

At Gallions - where the owner estimates about 40 percent of his business is lake-related - there's a sense of frustration.

``We're not hearing anything from the county or the state, that's what's bugging me,'' Gallion said. ``We're wondering what's going on. I just come to work every day and figure it's going to work out. There's nothing much else I can do.''

Karen Grant of the county Parks and Recreation Department said she expects the lake to stay open, but if the state takes over it likely would cut services, perhaps trimming the operating hours.

But someone has been distributing a flier about town that is fueling the fire. It warns of the lake closing and urges people to contact county officials to demand that the county continue running the lake.

Jack Trittler owns Castaic Boat and Marine near the lake. He's all for trimming services there to cut spending - lifeguards in particular, Trittler said, are expensive and not employed at most state lakes.

``We cannot protect everybody against themselves,'' Trittler said. ``The cost of trying to do that is out of hand.''

Trittler said he does not expect a change of hands to affect his business. People will still boat at Castaic - their watercraft will need occasional repairs or upgrades, and Castaic Boat is convenient.

``I don't think it would change things for me,'' he said. ``You might not have the swimming if you don't have lifeguards, but a lot of state facilities don't have swimming areas.''

At Gallions, this summer's three-month closure of Pyramid Lake - ordered by the U.S. Forest Service because of the high fire danger - hurt business, but things evened out once it reopened.

``I cursed that when it happened,'' he said. ``But when that lake reopened, there were so many fish, the stripers were biting so good up there. Whatever we didn't do in the three months they were closed, we made up.''