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A television screen inside the Meri Lou Murray Recreation Center in Ann Arbor is tuned to Fox News on Jan. 7, 2015.

(Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

UPDATE: Fox News responds to controversy over 'offensive' broadcasts at Ann Arbor rec center

A couple's objections to Fox News broadcasts at the Meri Lou Murray Recreation Center in Ann Arbor has Washtenaw County officials considering a new policy for what types of programs should be allowed on TV screens inside the center.

Ypsilanti Township residents Dave and Sue Weber argue a county-run facility is no place to be showing what they consider offensive, right-wing political propaganda.

They said they started going to the county's recreation center on Washtenaw Avenue last fall and were dismayed to see Fox News show up on four of the 12 television screens in the cardio area during election season.

"In September, when we toured the facility before joining, we didn't notice Fox on at all," Dave Weber said. "But now October comes around, pre-election time, that's when it multiplied onto four screens, four out of the 12 in the cardio room."

Though there's no volume on the TVs, they said, they got tired of seeing offensive closed-caption blocks with remarks such as "Young women aren't capable of voting" and "We have enough illegals here, we don't need more."

They also have been offended by attacks against President Barack Obama and Democrats, and they say there's no programming offering a counter viewpoint.

The couple complained to facility director Jon Keith, but they said asking him to change the channel only resulted in a lecture on how the liberals at CNN are trying to take away his gun rights. They said Keith also has denied their requests to switch one of the TV screens to a more left-leaning news channel such as MSNBC.

"It felt to me like the Republican Party had an official of our public recreation facility working for them," Dave Weber said.

Keith declined to comment for this story.

On a recent morning, MSNBC wasn't on any of the TV screens inside the center, while one of the screens was showing Fox News. Other televisions were tuned to channels such as CNN, HGTV, ESPN and the Weather Channel.

Bob Tetens, Washtenaw County's parks and recreation director, said Fox News is on the channel lineup upon request by users of the center. He said he would have no objections to putting MSNBC on one of the screens, though, and he said he finds it hard to believe Keith reacted the way the Webers say he did.

"They have blown this way out of proportion," Tetens said of the Webers, who have aired their grievances publicly before the county board and parks commission, claiming the situation constitutes "viewpoint discrimination."

"They have threatened to take legal action against us. They have threatened to go to the ACLU," Tetens said.

At its Tuesday night meeting, the county's parks commission asked staff to draft a policy for programming on the 13 screens inside the center.

"We have a five-channel system," Tetens said, noting one of the channels will be dedicated for parks use, such as advertising events, activities and services.

Another will be the Weather Channel, and one will be ESPN, Tetens said, noting HGTV, CNN and Fox News are potential candidates for the last two.

"The policy will address how those two get selected," Tetens said, adding he expects to have the policy go to the parks commission on Feb. 10.

Tetens said it's possible Fox News was on as many as four screens at one point and he agrees that's too much. He said it was scaled back to two screens after some complaints, and now it's on one screen at the very far end of the cardio room.

"We've tried to be as responsive as we can to their concerns without letting them dictate what we do," he said. "Some people apparently, because they have requested it, want to listen to Fox or watch Fox. Probably more people in this town don't, so we decided to put it at the end, keep it out of the middle of the room."

Tetens notes there's no volume coming from any of the TVs, so users have to either read closed captions or plug in headphones. He said there was a brief time when the center stopped showing news programs, but they were restored after users of the center, including CNN fans, complained about the change.

Tetens noted he's not personally a Fox News fan or supporter and he prefers to get his news from NPR.

The Webers have drafted a petition they're ready to circulate if the county doesn't cease all Fox News broadcasts inside the center.

"As taxpayers and paying members of the Meri Lou Murray Recreation Center, we request the removal of Fox News, and any other partisan political news programming from our public facility," the petitions states.

Tetens said he doesn't think it's a violation of anyone's civil rights to broadcast Fox News inside the center.

Jeanette Hescheles, a regular user of the recreation center, said she doesn't want to see the Fox News broadcasts go away.

"I think it's good to see both sides of things and I don't see anything wrong with it," she said. "I think this whole town is overly liberal."

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com or 734-623-2529 or follow him on Twitter.