David Levine, the colorful -- critics said too colorful -- editor whose blazing headlines and sharp-elbowed style enlivened the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, was fired yesterday.

Levine's departure was the first official act of newly installed publisher Chris Voccio, who said only that Levine had departed and that he had no idea where the former editor was going.

Levine, a native of Newark, N.J., and a onetime weekend editor at the New York Post, was frequently a center of controversy in the Cambria County area after his arrival seven years ago. He launched old-fashioned crusades that targeted the city's police chief, pumped up headline sizes and left town fathers aghast at the spicier tone of the once-staid newspaper.

"I think there were a lot of professional differences between me and Voccio," Levine said yesterday. "Chris' major complaint was that we were too negative."

Levine complained that the paper's owners, Alabama-based Community Newspapers, slashed the newsroom budget in an effort to maximize profits.

"They kept cutting back on staff. I had no one to put it out with," Levine said "Every year, budgetarily, we'd go down, or if somebody left I was told not to fill that position."

Levine put the newspaper's circulation at 42,000.

Several staff members said Voccio held meetings with employees, some of whom complained about Levine's management style and the direction of the paper. Levine said he doubts it.

"I actually liked most of my staff and thought they were talented people," Levine said. "I've been there for seven years. If I was really [messing] up, don't you think prior management would have gotten rid of me?"

Under Levine, the Tribune-Democrat broke an array of news stories, won a National Headliners Award and championed access to public information. At the same time, some stories rankled readers and triggered debate about balance.

When a group of off-duty Johnstown police officers took a late-night jump into the central park fountain, the Tribune-Democrat headlined the story 12 times over an 11-day period, leading off with a headline about the "Fountain Frolic." When three men were caught in a police sting into homosexual activity at a state park, the Tribune-Democrat played the misdemeanor arrests in a banner headline across the front page.

"I think there was a perception among some people on the staff, and in the community at large as well, that there was a certain big-city type mentality" in Levine's approach, said Bernie Hornick, the paper's police reporter. "This isn't New York, where you can just kind of hit somebody's reputation and walk away."

At the same time, Hornick said, Levine enjoyed high marks from staff members for a willingness to take on civic powers. Over his seven years, Levine tangled with the police chief, mayor, members of council and corporate leaders. At one point, a group of local businessmen put together an alternative newsletter to promote positive news, a response to the feistier Tribune-Democrat.

"They put out two issues," Levine said.