Hi all,
Looks like a REPLACE did the trick for us.
CEDescription.Text.Trim.Replace(vbCrLf, "").Replace(Environment.NewLine, "")
After looking at some sql server posts, I guess its pretty common for CR and LF to get combined and turned into some SQUARE character display in the database.
Thanks to all those who helped out. Hope this helps someone else along the way.
Rob