Two men who a former acquaintance described as skinheads are headed to trial for their alleged role in a barroom brawl. Edward Robert Locke, 33, of 231 Glencoe Drive, West Mifflin, Allegheny County, is charged by state police at Greensburg with attempted homicide and four counts of aggravated assault in connection with the March 18 incident at TJ's Sports Bar in New Stanton. A co-defendant, Todd Clair Sager, 28, of 100 Stone Church Road, New Stanton, is charged with criminal solicitation to commit criminal homicide and criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault. During Sager and Locke's preliminary hearing Tuesday, Mack McCafferty, of 29 Wallace Ave., Trafford, said he met Locke and Sager through an Internet site for Keystone State Skinheads. The organization, according to its Web site, promotes unity among "racially aware skinheads in the state of Pennsylvania." It was founded in Harrisburg in 2001 but claims to have several chapters statewide, including in Greensburg and Pittsburgh. Sager, according to McCafferty, was in charge of the organization's western chapters when the two met. State police allege Locke stabbed Sager and another man, Tad Watkiss, of New Stanton, during the early morning fracas. Watkiss needed at least 15 stitches to close a wound on his left hand. Sager sustained a cut to one of his arms. McCafferty said he, Locke, Sager and another man, Michael Smyers, address unavailable, were drinking together at the bar the morning of the fight. McCafferty acknowledged having tried, along with Locke, to intimidate a mixed-race couple who were seated at the bar, but he said the couple left before the fight started. Sager allegedly apologized to barmaid Michelle Pritts for the men's behavior. Pritts testified Sager told her the men did "nothing without me telling them" because he was their leader. "I said, I'm sorry, but this is my bar, and I'm not putting up with this in my bar," Pritts said. Witnesses yesterday said the fight was sparked when Sager and another patron bumped into each other. Pritts said she jumped onto the bar and threatened to call police at the outset of the fight, temporarily quashing it. But as soon as she jumped off the bar, she said, patrons began swinging at one another. "They all went back at it," Pritts said. "It was utter chaos. I had to drag girls over the bar because their husbands and boyfriends were involved in the fight." Brad Daugherty, of Scottdale, said when he pulled Sager off another patron, Sager put him into a headlock. He said he heard Sager call for someone to "stab him" just before McCafferty pulled him out of the headlock. McCafferty said Locke brandished the knife and began swinging it wildly after Sager shouted. A former TJ's bouncer, David Alan Thomas Jr., of Baltimore, Md., testified Sager was cut just after Daugherty was pulled to safety. District Justice James Falcon, of Hempfield Township, ordered the criminal solicitation, attempted homicide and attempted aggravated assault charges bound over for trial. Charges of criminal conspiracy against both men were dismissed. Locke has been lodged in the Westmoreland County Jail for nearly a year in lieu of $35,000 bond. Falcon denied Locke's request for a bond reduction. Sager is free on $25,000 bond.

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