A self-proclaimed sovereign citizen no longer holds the leadership position he had within the Hillsboro Grange.

On Saturday, members of the nonprofit fraternal organization met to elect new officers for 2019. Carol Everman, state deputy with the Oregon State Grange, said Ron Vrooman was not re-elected lecturer, a position which put him in charge of monthly speeches on topics of his choosing.

Everman would not say who was named lecturer. She said Belinda Sanchez, formerly the grange secretary, was elected grange master.

Though the Hillsboro Grange website states meetings are “always open to the public,” four visitors, including a reporter, were told Saturday’s meeting was closed to non-members and were not allowed to attend. (The website also erroneously states monthly meetings are on Wednesdays.)

The visitors, who had attended previous grange meetings, were concerned after hearing Vrooman’s speeches, in which he talked about the “legal fiction” of the federal government, and referred to former President Barack Obama as a “Muslim imposter, Manchurian Candidate.” Sovereign citizens believe, among other things, that the federal government is not legitimate and they are not subject to its laws. Vrooman has made lengthy posts online about the federal government and his anti-Muslim beliefs.

Over the past few months, about two dozen members of the community applied for membership in the Hillsboro Grange, including the mayor, a city councilor and a retired judge. They were all denied membership.

Three of those would-be members came to Saturday’s grange meeting. Two of them, Kimberly Culbertson and Shaun Starr, waited in the grange foyer for the meeting to start; after they were asked to leave, they stood outside the entrance. They were seen recording their interactions with grange members.

Before the meeting, Sanchez spoke to Culbertson, Starr and a reporter outside the grange hall.

“I know there’s some new members that have different ideas that don’t always coincide with ours,” she said, referring to Vrooman. “But I have to respect that. It’s called tolerance, respecting people, even though I don’t agree with them.”

She said Culbertson and Starr’s presence was “unfair” and causing her stress.

“I love this Grange, I’ve been a member for over 10 years,” she said, “and when I see the members upset, and they can’t concentrate, and they feel when there’s negativity they can’t concentrate, and it’s making everybody nervous, so it makes me feel sad that our grange, we can’t feel good.”

She did not respond to requests for comment after the meeting vote.

Vrooman declined to comment.

-- Samantha Swindler

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com