A public servant with backbone? Imagine that!

There’s a new sheriff in town.

Ka-pow!

That’s the sound of Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich figuratively gunning down Joseph W. Mastel, the 52-year-old detective accused of exposing himself to a young female barista at an area espresso joint on June 16.

The news about “Cuppa Joe” Mastel broke in the paper last Tuesday. Two days later, Sheriff Ozzie made like Donald Trump and fired the 12-year Sheriff’s Office veteran.

Pardon me for sounding giddy, but … “Yahoo!”

I’m not used to local leaders showing signs of spine. Spokane is the habitat of Political Gumby, that taffy-jointed creature who will bend and twist into pretzel shapes to avoid making a stand.

Need I remind you of the sick saga that dragged on for weeks over firefighter Daniel W. Ross?

That disgrace to his hose took pornographic snapshots of a 16-year-old girl he had sex with in a firehouse. City police detectives compounded the disaster by telling Sparky to erase his photos.

Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession and his Gumby pals handled the case like snails trying to push a tennis ball to Cheney.

Ozzie has only been sheriff since April. He was appointed to the job after Sheriff Mark Sterk retired. Now Ozzie’s in a tough primary campaign.

Despite all the pressures, the sheriff is not making like a pretzel.

On Friday, the sheriff went on Mark Fuhrman’s AM talk radio show (KGA 1510). Asked about canning Mastel, Ozzie said: “I felt I owed it to Spokane County to make sure this didn’t drag out.” Put a damp cloth on my forehead. I’m feeling faint.

Changing the subject for a moment, can someone tell me when the term “public servant” turned into “pubic servant”?

Since this time last year, Spokane has been humiliated by a string of middle-age sleazebags with titles.

There was Mayor Jim West trolling the Internet for teen/man love.

There was the visiting federal judge accused of engaging in an act of self-gratification in Riverfront Park.

There was the aforementioned city firefighter.

Now we have ex-Detective Mastel, who faces charges for brandishing his biscotti at the On Alert Caffeine Station in Airway Heights.

You’ve heard of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?”

Meet “The Brotherhood of the Plummeting Trousers.”

This Naughty Latte cop caper is one for the books. Mastel said he unzipped or unbuttoned his britches because he thought he and the 23-year-old woman had feelings for each other, according to our story.

Spokane – Near Lewd. Near Lascivious.

Mastel reportedly told police he knew he was wrong when he saw the look on the barista’s face.

There’s nothing like disgust to let an alleged flasher know he’s overstepped his boundaries.

I have it on excellent authority that Mastel was once involved in rewriting the department’s office rules and regulations manual. If true, Cuppa Joe apparently skipped the zipper part of the dress code section.

In Friday’s story regarding the firing, I couldn’t help but gasp at a quote from Undersheriff Larry Lindskog.

He called Mastel a “guy’s guy,” adding that “he did something really stupid.”

Larry, what planet do you come from?

First off, a guy’s guy is some dude who likes to hunt and fish.

Stupid is buying a car without taking it for a test drive.

Exposing your junk in public is what gets you registered as a sex offender.

So far, Sheriff Ozzie is proving he deserves his job. “Joe was a friend of mine,” he said on the Fuhrman show. “However, I knew what I had to do for the benefit of the community.”

All together now: Yahoo!