August 28, 1986

Two years ago, independent television stations were beaming a bright picture. With a bigger share of television advertising dollars and improved ratings, they were giving the networks more of a run for their money than ever. But as more and more entrepreneurs decided to get a piece of the action, television advertising in general started to level off. Now, the rising number of new independent stations and sluggish ad dollars have combined with unexpected rises in the cost of programming to dampen the outlook for many of the nation's 260 independents.

Twenty years ago the typical campers came to the Lone Oak campground here with a tent, a grill and a lantern. After supper, they toasted marshmallows under the stars and marveled at the Berkshire Mountains in the distance. ''All they wanted was a space in the woods and an outhouse,'' said Barry Brown, a part owner of the campground. ''But nowadays people aren't exactly roughing it.''

THE appeal of small country places - bungalows, fishing shacks, farmhouses or cottages - lies in their simplicity. Often, however, the rough-and-ready character of these buildings - the weathered woods, uneven floorboards, raftered ceilings and quirky spaces - is lost when an overzealous architect or decorator sits down at the drawing board. Rather than attempting to turn simplicity into grandeur, current design tides are moving in quite the opposite direction. The trick these days, according to two interior designers, is to make such houses livable without losing any of their indigenous flavor. Bare floors and walls, exposed beams, rattan or old Adirondack furniture and gently faded fabrics create casual rooms where summertime living is easy. ''Undecorated decorating'' is how William Diamond, a New York interior designer, describes the process he and his associate William Baratta went through when they renovated an old bungalow in upstate New York for Kim and Michael Schwartz. ''The biggest mistake would have been to do too much,'' he said. ''What the Schwartzes wanted was really a kind of grown-up summer camp.''

The Koch administration is seeking to open Staten Island's first municipal shelter for the homeless, and a coalition of local groups is opposing the move. The shelter would be for homeless families and would accommodate as many as 160 people, or about 50 families, said Suzanne Trazoff, a spokesman for the city's Human Resources Administration. Each family would have a private room, and there would be communal facilities for meals, recreation and social services.

A picture caption in Metropolitan Report on Monday with an article about the restoration of a cast-iron eagle in Phoenicia, N.Y., misidentified a man working on the eagle. He was Joseph Battle, not Dakin Morehouse.

The General Motors Corporation, in an effort to reduce its heavy stockpiles, will slash interest rates on 1986 cars on Thursday to 2.9 percent for three-year loans, automobile dealers said today. The new rates - four percentage points lower than the incentive rates now offered on 36-month loans for selected G.M. models - are to apply through Oct. 8, said Betty Warner, financing manager of Kaiser Brothers Oldsmobile here. That apparently indicates that the nation's largest automaker will slightly delay introduction of 1987 models until it can whittle down its inventories.

''By our action we wish to show the personal and collective support of the Church of Baltimore for international sanctions to bring pressure on the South African government and to end the inhuman practices of apartheid.'' - Archbishop William D. Borders, of Baltimore, on divesting stock in companies dealing with South Africa. [ A6:3. ]

In a victory for small business and its advocates in Congress, the head of the Small Business Administration said today that the White House had scrapped its attempt to eliminate the S.B.A. as an independent Government agency. Charles L. Heatherly, acting administrator of the S.B.A., said in an interview that President Reagan's proposal to transfer its operations to the Commerce Department had been abandoned. ''The transfer proposal is dead, and I don't expect it to be resurrected in this Administration,'' Mr. Heatherly said. ''The reality is that the small-business community wants an independent agency, and we accept that.''

John J. McLaughlin, the former president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, was found not guilty yesterday of accepting bribes and of stealing $250,000 from a wealthy heiress. But he was convicted of four other felonies - including grand larceny and forgery - and a misdemeanor charge. The verdict in the case - the first trial to involve charges brought as part of the municipal corruption scandal -was delivered by the jury at 4:30 P.M. on its eighth day of deliberation. Faces 20 Years in Prison In all, Mr. McLaughlin, a lawyer, faces 20 years in prison and automatic disbarment, although a prison sentence for more than the maximum on one count, 7 years, would be unlikely. Mr. McLaughlin said he would appeal the convictions.

The White House issued a new statement on Libya today, saying its assertions that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was planning new acts of terrorism were based on ''a realistic assessment'' by American officials. ''The U.S. Government is dealing with realities in this situation,'' Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman, said. ''This is a realistic assessment.'' His statement today was the latest in a series of differing assessments of the Libyan's intentions from Administration officials in Washington and other officials there and in California, where President Reagan is vacationing.

A Federal court plan to distribute more than $200 million among 250,000 Vietnam veterans and family members who claim injury from the wartime herbicide Agent Orange has been blocked by an appeals court. The stay came more than two years after settlement of a lawsuit by Vietnam veterans against seven chemical manufacturers, and just two days before parts of the plan were to take effect. The stay, ordered Tuesday in Manhattan by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, was announced yesterday by Federal District Judge Jack B. Weinstein of Brooklyn, in whose court the plan had been set up. In one of many strange twists in the eight-year-old case, the stay was sought by lawyers heading the veterans' case. The lawyers argued that the distribution plan failed to connect the veterans' ailments to their exposure to Agent Orange and thus ignored a fundamental contention of the veterans.

IT may never join the loftiest ranks of modern furniture design, those hallowed niches reserved for the likes of Mies van der Rohe or Charles Eames. And it is possible to overstate the cultural importance of the water bed. After all, the modern water bed began as a gurgling mass of velvet-topped vinyl, procured in bead-draped record stores along with incense and albums from the rock group Cream. Still, if contributions to modern design were judged purely on the basis of emotions engendered, the water bed, that fluid fixture of 1970's crash pads, might be at the top of the ratings. ''A capitalist rip-off,'' a floor-loving purist said in Rolling Stone at that time. ''The bounciest bedroom invention since the innerspring mattress,'' said Time.