Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland didn’t pull any punches Thursday when he described, in frightening detail, a “worst-case” budget scenario for the state in the next couple of years.

It is, in short, the outline for a near-meltdown of state government services — six prisons and several other corrections facilities shut down, the state parks system closed, a likely $2,000 tuition hike at state universities, all state agencies cut by 25 percent, and much more.

… There may be a good chance the budgetary apocalypse Strickland describes won’t come to pass. …

Strickland already has suggested an across-the-board 10 percent reduction for all state agencies’ budgets. If done quickly, that could ease further cuts down the road …

He also is making a persuasive case for specific, targeted federal aid — for Medicaid, unemployment assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other programs. That would help greatly, and we can be sure President-elect Barack Obama is listening to Strickland.

Finally … the recession could be less than the near-depression some of these projections are based on.

We can’t fault Strickland for making sure Ohioans understand what could happen. …

But there’s a fine line here. It’s easy to “scare the bejeebies out of people” as state Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, put it. …

— The Cincinnati Enquirer