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Saint-Imier

Saint-Imier is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (Jura Bernois).

The Observatoire Astronomique de Mont-Soleil is located above the village.

History
Saint-Imier is first mentioned in 884 as cella de sancti Himerii. The municipality was formerly known by its German name St. Immer, however, that name is no longer used. Its name refers to Imerius of Immertal, a 7th-century saint.

According to the legend of St. Imerius, he settled in the valley as a hermit in the late 6th or early 7th century on a piece of land that bishop Marius of Lausanne gave him as a present. In 884 a cella (probably a church, farm and monastery) was mentioned on the site. Archeological excavations around the former Church of St. Martin indicate that a village grew up around the cella around the same time. Two of the 142 graves from the church have been dated to the Early Middle Ages and the church was rebuilt at least three times before the 14th or early 15th century.

In 884 the cella with its outbuildings belonged to Moutier-Grandval Abbey. In 999, the Abbey donated Saint-Imier and a number of surrounding villages to the Prince-Bishop of Basel. In 1264, the Bishop appointed Otto of Arguel (or Erguel) as the vogt over the Saint-Imier valley fief. Otto raised the valley to become a seigniory and parish of the Diocese of Basel. By the end of the 15th century, Saint-Imier included the villages of Villeret, Sonvilier, Renan and La Ferriere.

Even though the physical valley was owned by the Bishop of Basel, religiously it was part of the Diocese of Lausanne. The Saint-Imier parish was probably founded in the 9th or 10th century. A village chapel was first mentioned in 968, with the parish church of St. Martin first appearing in the records in 1228. The church of St. Martin was later rebuilt in the gothic style. Another church, the collegiate church was built in the 11th century, probably under the direction of the Bishop of Basel. In 1530, Biel encouraged Saint-Imier to embrace the Protestant Reformation and convert to the new religion. The collegiate church before the parish church for the new Reformed parish. Over the following centuries, the Church of St. Martin was used less and less until it was demolished in 1828. In 1814 the town and the surrounding valley transferred from Lausanne to the Diocese of Basel. Catholic church services resumed in Saint-Imier in 1857 and in 1866 the neo-gothic Church of St. Martin was built. In 1912 a Christian Catholic church was built in the town.

In 1792 Théodore Frédéric Louis Liomin, the vogt or bailiff of Saint-Imier, threw his support behind the revolutionary movement that was sweeping the region. After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Saint-Imier became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible. Three years later, in 1800 it became part of the Département of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Saint-Imier was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.

During the 19th century the anti-authoritarian or anarchist movement gained a foothold in the region. In 1872, the Jura Federation, which had strong support in Saint-Imier, organized a congress in Saint-Imier at which the Anti-authoritarian International was founded.

During the 18th century the inhabitants of the valley gradually gave up agriculture in favor of more lucrative jobs in the watch and lace-making industries. The first watch parts workshop opened in the 1720s and the industry continued to expand throughout the 19th century. By 1817 there were about 200 workers employed in either watchmaking workshops or small shops at home. The small scale workshops were replaced by large factory work, when Longines opened a factory in the town in 1867. By the end of the year, 1,600 people were employed in 47 watchmaking companies. Because the town's economy was so dependent on watchmaking, the economic crisis of the 1930s and the 1970s hit Saint-Imier hard. By the beginning of the 21st century, there were about ten watchmaking companies and the economy had diversified to include dental and medical technology and meteorology. Portions of the town were destroyed by fire in 1839, 1843 and 1856. A hospital opened in Saint-Imier in 1856. In 1874 the town was connected to the Swiss rail network. The town's infrastructure was modernized early, before 1900 it had municipal water, gas and electricity. Saint-Imier has grown into a regional education center. The town's secondary school opened in 1860, followed by a watchmaker's school in 1866. The watch-maker's school was expanded into a machinist's school in 1896 and a technical vocational school in 1961. In 1976 it became a school of engineering and in 2005 it was integrated into the Haute école Arc/Hochschule Arc. A number of other schools opened in the town including the Bernese Jura Music School (1981), a vocational and technical school (1997), and a training center for health professionals (1993).

On 31 December 2009, the district of Courtelary, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, a new district (or arrondissement administratif) of Jura bernois was created, which includes all of the former Courtelary District, as well as the former district of La Neuveville and the area around Tavannes.

On 19 July 2023, hundreds of anarchists began arriving in Saint-Imier to participate in an international anarchist gathering, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Saint-Imier Congress. The event included lectures, workshops, concerts, film screenings, theatre plays, exhibitions and a book fair. By the second day of the event, thousands of people had arrived in the town, causing logistical issues for the self-managed space. The event also caused some safety problems, as its campsite was located next to train tracks that campers often crossed over in order to get to the event location, despite attempts by the event organisers to stop them. In order to guarantee safety, the Swiss Federal Railways halted all rail traffic between Saint-Imier and La Chaux-de-Fonds over the weekend, organising replacement bus services in order to maintain the public transit network. The event would end up counting 5,000 attendees, mostly people in their early twenties, who were reportedly warmly welcomed by the town's population. Saint-Imier mayor Corentin Jeanneret reported that the event went largely smoothly, with the exception of a few cases of graffiti.

Geography
Saint-Imier has an area of. Of this area, 49% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 40% is forested. Of the rest, 9.3% of the total is buildings or roads, and 0.7%of the total is unproductive.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 5.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.2%. Out of the forested land, 34% of the total land area is heavily forested and 6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.7% is used for growing crops and 20% is pastures and 27% is used for alpine pastures.

The municipality is located in the Saint-Imier valley along the Suze river and on the Biel/Bienne-La Chaux-de-Fonds road.

Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Sable two Pales Or and overall on a Bar Argent a Mullet of Five Gules.

Demographics
Saint-Imier has a population of. , 23.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 4.2%. Migration accounted for 6.3%, while births and deaths accounted for -2.9%.

Most of the population speaks French (4,049 or 84.2%) as their first language, German is the second most common (315 or 6.6%) and Italian is the third (183 or 3.8%). There are 2 people who speak Romansh.

, the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 1,682 Swiss men (35.3% of the population) and 612 (12.8%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,947 Swiss women (40.8%) and 530 (11.1%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 1,486 or about 30.9% were born in Saint-Imier and lived there in 2000. There were 1,072 or 22.3% who were born in the same canton, while 1,040 or 21.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,028 or 21.4% were born outside of Switzerland.

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 22.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 56.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 21.2%.

, there were 1,842 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,242 married individuals, 447 widows or widowers and 276 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 916 households that consist of only one person and 86 households with five or more people. , a total of 2,190 apartments (78.9% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 362 apartments (13.0%) were seasonally occupied and 223 apartments (8.0%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 1.3 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 4.5%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Heritage sites of national significance
The Collégiale and the Longines Watch factory are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire urban village of Saint-Imier is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Social Democratic Party (SP) which received 26.4% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the Swiss People's Party (SVP) (25.4%), and the FDP.The Liberals (18.2%). In the federal election, a total of 929 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 31.6%.

Economy
Saint-Imier is the hometown of the Longines watchmaking company. The Breitling watchmaking company was founded in Saint-Imier, but moved to Grenchen, Canton of Solothurn.

, Saint-Imier had an unemployment rate of 3.59%. , there were a total of 2,483 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 61 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 23 businesses involved in this sector. 1,102 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 57 businesses in this sector. 1,320 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 164 businesses in this sector. There were 183 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 59.0% of the workforce.

there were a total of 2,069 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 46, of which 42 were in agriculture and 4 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 1,024 of which 879 or (85.8%) were in manufacturing and 81 (7.9%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 999. In the tertiary sector; 184 or 18.4% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 29 or 2.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 48 or 4.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 40 or 4.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 44 or 4.4% were technical professionals or scientists, 101 or 10.1% were in education and 437 or 43.7% were in health care.

, there were 1,624 workers who commuted into the municipality and 802 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.0 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 11.3% of the workforce coming into Saint-Imier are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 10.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.3% used a private car.

Religion
From the, 1,989 or 41.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 1,642 or 34.2% were Roman Catholic. Of the rest of the population, there were 22 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.46% of the population), there were 17 individuals (or about 0.35% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 386 individuals (or about 8.03% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 161 (or about 3.35% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 4 individuals who were Buddhist, 1 person who was Hindu and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 617 (or about 12.84% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 156 individuals (or about 3.25% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education
In Saint-Imier about 1,696 or (35.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 438 or (9.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 438 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.5% were Swiss men, 20.5% were Swiss women, 11.0% were non-Swiss men and 8.0% were non-Swiss women.

The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 695 students attending classes in Saint-Imier. There were 5 kindergarten classes with a total of 100 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 27.0% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 33.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 21 primary classes and 349 students. Of the primary students, 31.8% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 19.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language. During the same year, there were 13 lower secondary classes with a total of 246 students. There were 19.1% who were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 15.9% have a different mother language than the classroom language. , there were 396 students in Saint-Imier who came from another municipality, while 126 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Saint-Imier is home to 2 libraries, the Haute école Arc – Ingénierie and the Bibliothèque régionale de St-Imier. There was a combined total of 29,145 books or other media in the libraries, and in the same year a total of 41,777 items were loaned out.

Transportation
The municipality has a railway station, St-Imier. The station is located on the Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds line and has half-hourly service to Biel/Bienne and La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Mont Soleil can be reached with Funiculaire Saint-Imier-Mont-Soleil.

Sports
HC Sainti Bats plays in the Première Ligue, the fourth tier of Swiss hockey. Their home arena is the 3,000-seat Erguël Arena.

Notable residents

 * Alain Auderset, Christian author;
 * George-Emile Eberhard, watchmaker and industrialist;
 * Charles Guyot, professional road racing cyclist;
 * Jonathan Hirschi, racing driver;
 * Raymond Künzli, professional road racing cyclist;
 * Conny Perrin, professional tennis player.

title: Saint-Imier


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Sonceboz-Sombeval

Sonceboz-Sombeval is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (Jura Bernois).

History
Sonceboz-Sombeval is first mentioned in 866 as Summavallis. In 1179 it was mentioned as Sommeval and in 1303 it was Suntzelbo.

Its location at the foot of the historic Pierre Pertuis pass (in operation since the Roman era) made the villages an important stopping point and transportation hub. The Petinesca Roman road ran to the east of Sonceboz before it crossed the Jura mountains. The ruins of a 4th-century Roman settlement have been discovered at the Le Châtillon ridge. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, a medieval settlement developed over the Roman settlement. In 999 Moutier-Grandval Abbey gave the local farms and the Summavallis chapel to the Prince-Bishop of Basel. The Prince-Bishop assigned Moutier-Grandval Abbey to administer the village as the bailiff and the parish priest (placing the Abbey over the secular and spiritual needs of the village). This organization continued until Sonceboz and Sombeval accepted the Protestant Reformation in 1530. After the Reformation, the villages were under the secular administration of Erguel. After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Sonceboz-Sombeval became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible. Three years later, in 1800 it became part of the Département of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Sonceboz-Sombeval was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.

The Chapel of St. Agatha in Sombeval became the parish church for the Sombeval parish in the 13th century. It was rebuilt in 1737 and again in 1866. Decades after the villagers accepted the new Reformed faith, in 1590 they became part of the Corgémont parish. They remained part of that parish until 1931.

Throughout the Early Modern period Sonceboz remained a small hamlet with only a few houses dependent on the larger village of Sombeval. However, in the early 18th century Sonceboz became an important staging post for trade over the pass. Beginning in 1849 the growth of the watch parts industry brought workers to the villages and forcing them to expand. In 1874 the Biel-Les Convers and Sonceboz-Tavannes railway lines opened and forever changed the character of the village. While Sombeval retained much of its rural character, the population and industry in Sonceboz exploded. With the population growing the two formerly independent villages merged as they physically grew together. In 1936 the watch parts manufacturer Société industrielle de Sonceboz built a factory in the village. In 1978, the flooring manufacturer Bienna SA built a factory in the municipality, which strengthened the industrial sector. By 2005, over two-thirds of the jobs in the municipality are manufacturing.

Geography
Sonceboz-Sombeval has an area of. Of this area, 5 km2 or 33.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 8.76 km2 or 58.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.12 km2 or 7.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.07 km2 or 0.5% is either rivers or lakes and 0.04 km2 or 0.3% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 3.7%. Out of the forested land, 55.8% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 7.5% is used for growing crops and 14.4% is pastures and 11.3% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located in the Saint-Imier valley at the foot of the historic Pierre Pertuis pass. It consists of the villages of Sonceboz and Sombeval which have grown together.

On 31 December 2009 District de Courtelary, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.

Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent three Fir Trees Vert trunked Gules issuant from a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second and in chief two Mullets of Five of the third.

Demographics
Sonceboz-Sombeval has a population of. , 15.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 5.4%. Migration accounted for 0.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 3.6%.

Most of the population speaks French (1,358 or 81.5%) as their first language, German is the second most common (202 or 12.1%) and Italian is the third (53 or 3.2%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh.

, the population was 50.6% male and 49.4% female. The population was made up of 746 Swiss men (41.9% of the population) and 155 (8.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 761 Swiss women (42.8%) and 117 (6.6%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 511 or about 30.7% were born in Sonceboz-Sombeval and lived there in 2000. There were 586 or 35.2% who were born in the same canton, while 274 or 16.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 240 or 14.4% were born outside of Switzerland.

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.3% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.1% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15.6%.

, there were 652 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 847 married individuals, 83 widows or widowers and 84 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 162 households that consist of only one person and 52 households with five or more people. , a total of 625 apartments (87.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 58 apartments (8.1%) were seasonally occupied and 35 apartments (4.9%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.8 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 1.53%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 30.5% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (19.9%), and the Green Party (9.5%). In the federal election, a total of 380 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 32.4%.

Economy
, Sonceboz-Sombeval had an unemployment rate of 2.38%. , there were a total of 1,838 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 36 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 12 businesses involved in this sector. 1,331 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 27 businesses in this sector. 471 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 48 businesses in this sector. There were 415 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 74.0% of the workforce.

there were a total of 1,755 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 30, all in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 1,306 of which 1,269 or (97.2%) were in manufacturing and 34 (2.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 419. In the tertiary sector; 202 or 48.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 32 or 7.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 102 or 24.3% were in the information industry, 17 or 4.1% were in education and 18 or 4.3% were in health care.

, there were 1,329 workers who commuted into the municipality and 559 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.4 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 31.2% of the workforce coming into Sonceboz-Sombeval are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 14.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 61.5% used a private car.

Religion
According to the, 547 or 32.8% were Roman Catholic, while 677 or 40.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 4 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.24% of the population), there were 7 individuals (or about 0.42% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 342 individuals (or about 20.53% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Jewish, and 16 (or about 0.96% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who belonged to another church. 172 (or about 10.32% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 68 individuals (or about 4.08% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education
In Sonceboz-Sombeval about 650 or (39.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 135 or (8.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 135 who completed tertiary schooling, 68.1% were Swiss men, 17.8% were Swiss women, 9.6% were non-Swiss men and 4.4% were non-Swiss women.

The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 170 students attending classes in Sonceboz-Sombeval. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 43 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 11.6% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 7.0% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 8 primary classes and 127 students. Of the primary students, 17.3% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 14.2% have a different mother language than the classroom language.

, there were 58 students in Sonceboz-Sombeval who came from another municipality, while 121 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Transportation
The municipality has a railway station, Sonceboz-Sombeval. The station is located at the junction of the Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds and Sonceboz-Sombeval–Moutier lines and has hourly service to Biel/Bienne, Moutier, and La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Personalities

 * Le Bel Hubert (Hubert Bourquin), singer

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Sonceboz-Sombeval


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User:RoXXXyDope

RoXXXy Dope

Born: October 17, 1972

Current Residence: Grandview, MO

Sex: Female

Websites owned & operated:

EDSELDOPEdotCOM - The Official Dope Fansite

Halluci~Nation - The Life & Times of RoXXXy Dope

title: User:RoXXXyDope


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Talk:Kalix River

I cut-and-paste moved this page from Kalix älv. Please see its (short) edit history there if intersted (it contains only one editor (User:Alarm) besides mine).

Fred-Chess 16:33, August 29, 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Kalix River


text: User talk:172.193.190.83

title: User talk:172.193.190.83


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Sonvilier

Sonvilier is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (Jura Bernois).

History
Sonvilier is first mentioned in 1298 as Sunuilier. In 1307 it was mentioned as Sonvelier.

Erguel Castle, now in ruins, was built south-east of the village in the 11th century. The castle was the center of government for the lands that the Lords of Arguel (or Erguel) ruled. In 1264 Otto von Erguel, who at the time lived in Basel, ceded the lands to the Prince-Bishop of Basel. In return the bishop granted him lands in Alsace. Under the Prince-Bishop the Erguel lands, including Sonvilier, became part of the seigniory of Erguel. During the 13th and 14th century a local noble family was mentioned in Sonvilier. During the 16th century the municipality was the largest in the Erguel and was home to a half dozen mills that were held in fief to the Prince-Bishop of Basel.

After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Sonvilier became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible. Three years later, in 1800 it became part of the Département of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Sonvilier was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.

Two social movements of the 19th century originated in Sonvilier. In 1843 Fritz Marchand founded the philanthropist L'Union Society. Nearly three decades later, in 1871, a chapter of the Fédération jurassienne (Jura Federation), a federalist and anarchist section of the International Workingmen's Association, was formed in the village. The Jura Federation leader, Mikhail Bakunin, held three conferences in the village during 1871.

Religiously it was part of the parish of Saint-Imier. A Reformed parish church was built in the village in 1832. A Mennonite chapel was built in La Chaux-d'Abel in 1905.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the local economy grew with small scale home work watchmaking and lace making. A number of small workshops provided watch parts for final assembly in other towns in the region. The financial crises of the 1930s and 1970s hit the watch making industry hard and many workshops went out of business. In 2005, only 9% of the jobs in the municipality are in manufacturing, while almost half are in agriculture.

In 1874 the completion of the Biel-Les Convers railroad connected Sonvilier into the national rail network. In 1895, the canton acquired the Le Pré aux Boeuf farm and converted it into a boys boarding school. In 1931 they converted the school into a home for people in need.

Geography
Sonvilier has an area of. Of this area, 14.46 km2 or 60.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 8.17 km2 or 34.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.06 km2 or 4.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km2 or 0.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.05 km2 or 0.2% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.9%. Out of the forested land, 28.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 6.2% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.1% is used for growing crops and 34.5% is pastures and 23.1% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.

The municipality is located above the Suze river valley in the Bernese Jura. It consists of the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Sonvilier, the hamlet of La Chaux-d'Abel as well as scattered farm houses on the slopes of the Montagne du Droit and the Montagne de l'Envers.

On 31 December 2009 District de Courtelary, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Arrondissement administratif Jura bernois.

Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Banderole Argent in bend.

Demographics
Sonvilier has a population of. , 9.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000-2010) the population has changed at a rate of 9.7%. Migration accounted for 4.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 6.2%.

Most of the population speaks French (889 or 76.8%) as their first language, German is the second most common (205 or 17.7%) and Italian is the third (22 or 1.9%). There is 1 person who speaks Romansh.

, the population was 51.9% male and 48.1% female. The population was made up of 540 Swiss men (45.8% of the population) and 72 (6.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 524 Swiss women (44.4%) and 44 (3.7%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 365 or about 31.5% were born in Sonvilier and lived there in 2000. There were 299 or 25.8% who were born in the same canton, while 309 or 26.7% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 135 or 11.7% were born outside of Switzerland.

, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 25.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 57.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.2%.

, there were 469 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 538 married individuals, 71 widows or widowers and 80 individuals who are divorced.

, there were 161 households that consist of only one person and 31 households with five or more people. , a total of 449 apartments (74.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 85 apartments (14.0%) were seasonally occupied and 71 apartments (11.7%) were empty. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 1.65%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Heritage sites of national significance
The Ferme De La Grande Coronelle (Grande Coronelle Farm) is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 30% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Social Democratic Party (SP) (20.7%), the Green Party (12%) and the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (8%). In the federal election, a total of 249 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 30.3%.

Economy
, Sonvilier had an unemployment rate of 2.57%. , there were a total of 269 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 119 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 45 businesses involved in this sector. 24 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 8 businesses in this sector. 126 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 26 businesses in this sector. There were 536 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 44.0% of the workforce.

there were a total of 204 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 85, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 22 of which 5 or (22.7%) were in manufacturing and 17 (77.3%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 97. In the tertiary sector; 16 or 16.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 7 or 7.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 9 or 9.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 8 or 8.2% were in education and 41 or 42.3% were in health care.

, there were 78 workers who commuted into the municipality and 346 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 4.4 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 5.1% of the workforce coming into Sonvilier are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 10.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 61% used a private car.

Religion
From the, 247 or 21.3% were Roman Catholic, while 627 or 54.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.17% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 178 individuals (or about 15.37% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 4 individuals (or about 0.35% of the population) who were Jewish, and 17 (or about 1.47% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 2 individuals who were Buddhist. 129 (or about 11.14% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 40 individuals (or about 3.45% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education
In Sonvilier about 406 or (35.1%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 91 or (7.9%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 91 who completed tertiary schooling, 65.9% were Swiss men, 24.2% were Swiss women, 8.8% were non-Swiss men.

The Canton of Bern school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.

During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 110 students attending classes in Sonvilier. There were 2 kindergarten classes with a total of 27 students in the municipality. Of the kindergarten students, 7.4% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 14.8% have a different mother language than the classroom language. The municipality had 4 primary classes and 83 students. Of the primary students, 1.2% were permanent or temporary residents of Switzerland (not citizens) and 31.3% have a different mother language than the classroom language. , there were 34 students in Sonvilier who came from another municipality, while 110 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Sonvilier is home to the Bibliothèque communale et scolaire de Sonvilier library. The library has 11,422 books or other media, and loaned out 12,898 items in the same year. It was open a total of 90 days with average of 4 hours per week during that year.

Transportation
The municipality has a railway station, Sonvilier. The station is located on the Biel/Bienne–La Chaux-de-Fonds line and has hourly service to Biel/Bienne and La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Personalities

 * Louis-Ulysse Chopard, watchmaker and manufacturer born in Sonvilier
 * Ferdinand Gonseth, Swiss mathematician and philosopher born in Sonvilier

title: Sonvilier


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Stroker & Hoop

Stroker & Hoop is an American adult animated television series created by Casper Kelly and Jeffrey G. Olsen for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. The series is a parody of buddy cop films and television series such as Starsky & Hutch, and stars the voices of Jon Glaser as Stroker and Timothy "Speed" Levitch as Hoop. It contains the talking car element of the 1982 series Knight Rider, in "C.A.R.R.", voiced by Paul Christie. The names of the lead characters may be based on two Burt Reynolds characters, from Stroker Ace and Hooper.

Stroker and Hoop premiered on August 1, 2004, and ended on December 25, 2005, with 13 episodes.

Plot
Stroker and Hoop are a pair of private investigators from Los Angeles, who act and dress as if it is still the 1970s. Despite their individual high opinions of themselves, both men are hopelessly inept at their job. Stroker fancies himself a suave ladies' man, but is generally unpopular and perceived by virtually every woman he meets as a repulsive chauvinist; and Hoop considers himself a crime-solving ace and master of disguise, when in fact he is a gullible nerd and all of his disguises are failures. Their only "advantage" over their competition is C.A.R.R., a talking AMC Pacer with its own neurotic personality. Because of their abysmal track record and less-than-stellar capabilities, the two men eke out livings solving crimes for people who cannot afford to hire more competent detectives. Invariably, their attempts to solve a crime result in bloodshed, violence, and thousands of dollars in property damage.

A recurring plot point of the series was to take myths and fantasies (such as mind control and Santa Claus) and make them real in an otherwise ordinary setting. Stroker often doubts the existence of these occurrences.

Characters

 * John Strockmeyer, aka Stroker (Jon Glaser) is an ex-mattress salesman turned private investigator, Stroker is largely apathetic to his job; he only enjoys it because it allows him to shoot people, and because it brings him into contact with dozens of promiscuous women on a daily basis (Although those women usually want nothing to do with him). Although he considers himself an excellent detective and suave ladies' man, Stroker is actually a failure and a deadbeat; his wife left him and gained sole custody of their son, Keith, and Stroker's own incompetence and negligence resulted in his former partner, Jermaine, getting killed while working a case (Stroker borrowed the magazine from Jermaine's gun and forgot to tell him). Once in a while, Stroker will have a moment of being a genuine detective (such as successfully deducing the plot behind the lottery ring run by the ghosts of Christmas past (Jermaine), present and future), although these moments are incredibly rare. An incompetent detective, Stroker often meets with opportunities while on a case that would provide a more lucrative career. An advertising campaign pitched for a fabric softener was chosen over others to be shown during the Super Bowl. In another instance, despite being brainwashed, Stroker and Hoop were part of an insanely popular pornographic video series.
 * Hoop Schwartz (Speed Levitch) is Stroker's ever-optimistic and nerdy partner. Although he considers himself brilliant and a master of disguise, Hoop is bare of average intelligence (though Stroker is no genius himself), and his disguises are poorly conceived and do nothing to hide his face. Unlike Stroker, Hoop is a detective because he loves the line of work. However, Hoop eventually reveals that he has never fired a gun with the intent to actually hit his target, that he always aimed and fired above the target's head. In a bit of dramatic irony, Stroker, who spends most of his time trying to bed women, fails miserably at it, while Hoop, who most often comes across as asexual, often finds himself having sex with gorgeous women who throw themselves at him (usually for their own selfish needs). At one point he gains ninja skills, but as revealed in a later episode, they 'rusted' from disuse. When he isn't solving crimes, Hoop lives with his elderly mother and participates in dinner theatre.
 * C.A.R.R. (Paul Christie) is Stroker and Hoop's primary mode of transportation, C.A.R.R. is a talking car that was state-of-the-art twenty years ago. He enjoys talk radio and car washes, perhaps a little too much. He is also vengeful, paranoid, a bit racist, and often demonstrates effeminate behavior and, in spite of his otherwise masculine personality. He is a parody of Michael Knight's car KITT from Knight Rider and the name "C.A.R.R." is a parody of "K.A.R.R.", KITT's "evil" prototype. C.A.R.R. is painted to somewhat resemble the Ford Torino from Starsky & Hutch.
 * Double Wide (Curtis Armstrong) - Ostensibly C.A.R.R.'s creator. A mechanic who spends his copious free time inventing bizarre things. He is a pornography connoisseur and can speak Spanish. Despite the fact that Stroker owes him countless thousands of dollars, Double Wide remains loyal to Stroker and Hoop out of a sense of duty (Stroker used to sell mattresses with Double Wide's brother).
 * Coroner Rick (Gary Anthony Williams) - The county coroner on the show, who often serves as a source of information for the main characters. Coroner Rick is a good friend of Stroker and Hoop, and even willing to hide evidence that would get them tried for murder. He has a knack for making crude jokes from an otherwise unfortunate and tragic event, sometimes with the victim still conscious. Rick occasionally solves the actual crime in the episode but is generally fine with Stroker and Hoop taking the credit.
 * Keith (Mary Birdsong) is Stroker's 10-year-old son. Lives with his mother, Angel Jimenez and has a strained relationship with Stroker who mixes attention with sheer neglect, resulting in moments where Keith genuinely loathes him. Keith has demonstrated bravery, such as standing up to a murderous ninja.
 * Unnamed Man with Falsetto Voice: Originally believed to be just random background characters with the same voice, the finale reveals them to have all been the same man who wanted revenge on Stroker for arresting him even though he robbed a pharmacy (for medicine to save his baby girl) and killed Jermaine. As for Hoop, it was for disfiguring his face in the Ninja episode, unaware he was tricked by Suki.

Planned conclusion
Following the show's cancellation, creators Casper and Jeff made a posting to the Adult Swim blog outlining what would have happened in the second-season premiere. The episode would have opened with the revelation that Stroker and Hoop died in the crash and were sent to the afterlife; Hoop, specifically, was sent to a section of Hell reserved for lettuce, on a technicality. C.A.R.R.'s brain and one hubcap survived the crash. Double Wide also survived the crash but ended up in the burn ward of the hospital, where he received visions of Stroker and Hoop in the afterlife. Trying to save them, Double Wide with Keith's help puts himself on ice to temporarily "kill" himself, but is stopped by doctors at the last minute. To save Stroker and Hoop, Double Wide shoots himself and Coroner Rick. The two men then travel to the afterlife where they meet Stroker's father, a janitor in limbo, and Suko from episode six. A series of events leads to the death of God. God's temporary absence from Heaven – a technicality stipulates that it takes 20 minutes for God's soul to return to Heaven – allows all the main characters, including Stroker's father, to return to Earth along with a large number of others who were also in Heaven.

Cancellation
In February 2006, Les Harper, head animator on the show, announced via AdultSwim.com that the show has not been greenlit for a second season and will therefore not continue, leaving the show on a cliffhanger ending. It was stated by the creators both on the Adult Swim message board and the employee blog. The blog entry was on February 10. Furthermore, the show was confirmed to be cancelled in 2008 during an Adult Swim marathon consisting only of cancelled shows. The creators will continue to work with Williams Street regardless of the cancellation. Reruns of the existing episodes occasionally air on Adult Swim, and previously ran on Teletoon in Canada since September 2006.

Home media
Although Stroker & Hoop has never been released on DVD, all thirteen episodes are available on iTunes and Tubi.

title: Stroker & Hoop


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User talk:66.36.142.171

I agreed very strongly, but phrasing it in that way, editorializes and isn't encyclopedic. El_C 16:34, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:66.36.142.171