CUMBERLAND FORESIDE — Following a favorable court ruling last week, a local entrepreneur is one step closer to launching an online clearinghouse of county deed records.

John Simpson of Cumberland has been in court for the last year and a half, battling six counties – Cumberland, Knox, Penobscot, Aroostook, York and Androscoggin – for electronic copies of property deeds and other documents.

Simpson hasn’t yet received the records, but in February a Cumberland County judge ruled in his favor, ordering the counties to provide the documents at a reasonable fee.

The premium brand began with a wooden churn and has spread to a new generation.

Thirty years after its start, Kate’s Homemade Butter, which has won national recognition for quality, is getting ready to move to larger quarters.