Another INVALID CHARACTER question

hello,

I have something weird going on.. I am using this:

var eventTags = transport.responseXML.getElementsByTagName( 'item' );

etc... all seemed great until I ran across some xml, out of the hundreds that I've tested that gave me this error:

An invalid character wa sfound in text content....

and the issue is this: geh�ren

here is the encoding being used: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

I cannot alter the xml. I have to deal with it as it comes in. Is there anyway I can circumvent that error and still get the data? Perhaps offer an over-ride in html / javascript etc.. of course, this is only happening in IE, ff is fine.

I am asking for UTF encoding, there is latin in the XML --- is there ANY way (without me messing with the xml etc..) that i can still read this data in and act on it?

thanks