Y'all need to give Etowah Sheriff Todd Entrekin a break.

It's not like he's the most embarrassing politician from Etowah County or anything. We've got Roy Moore for that.

Entrekin is just second. A close second.

The whole world is pointing and staring at him, calling him things like "The Sheriff of Not Eating Ham" or "The Stroganoff Madoff." Shoot. They might go with "Chairman Chow."

But Alabama ought to be thanking the guy. He's what cancer was to smoking, what sudden death is to the opioid epidemic. Todd Entrekin is the poster child for Alabama's own stupidity.

Thank you, Todd. While they call you "Vlad the Lunch Pailer," I call you what you are:

A hero.

Nobody ever could have described, as effectively as Entrekin and his gluttonous greed, how ridiculous it is that sheriffs in many Alabama counties are allowed to pocket the leftover tax money they save after feeding inmates in their jails.

Which means sheriffs -- among the most powerful people in their communities -- have monetary incentive to scrimp on feeding prisoners, to feed them less food or food of lesser quality.

The more they need, the less they feed.

And man, did Entrekin embrace it. They don't call him Vladimir Poutine for nothing.

As AL.com's Connor Sheets reported last week - much to the outrage and entertainment of the entire free world - Entrekin noted on his ethics disclosure forms that he's been pocketing $250,000 of that money each of the last three years.

Hey, he took a jail that struggled to feed inmates and figured a way to spend $750,000 less on food and $750,000 more on himself. Like the law allows.

The sheriff's $93,179 salary - more than twice the median Etowah County household income of $40,478 - was simply not enough.

That Entrekin bought a $740,000 beach home at the same time - to bolster his beefy real estate portfolio - is just icing on that cake the inmates never got to eat.

Nobody could have made this point as well as Entrekin. Not the inmates. Not the do-gooder human rights groups who whine that convicted criminals should actually have a humane diet. Not the snowflakes who continue to believe inmates are people too. Not those who look at a policy that values greed over humanity and call it archaic. And evil.

None of them could say it better than Deputy Dogfood.

In an email to Sheets, Entrekin made no bones about it. Just like the jailhouse soup.

"As you should be aware, Alabama law is clear as to my personal financial responsibilities in the feeding of inmates," he wrote. "Regardless of one's opinion of this statute, until the legislature acts otherwise, the Sheriff must follow the current law."

The sheriff must follow the current law.

Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin -- as Vladimir Poutine. (Ramsey Archibald)

Oh Lord, that guy. Just to be clear, the law does not require that Entrekin pocket all that cash, that he stop buying trays and other food service supplies his predecessor paid out of his food account. It does not say the county should foot those costs, while he shops for prime real estate with the grocery money.

Nope. Just because the law allows you free speech, it doesn't mean you must talk all the time. That'll get you in trouble, I don't care who you are.

Alabama's been hard on this guy. Just because of his appetites. The world's been hard on him too. As if he's Kim Jong Meal.

I just want to thank you sheriff. You did it. It's all going to change. And it's all because of you.

John Archibald's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Write him at jarchibald@al.com.