Problem storing Extended characters in mysql

[JagBains]

Hi,

I am having problems storing charater greater than 0x7F in the database. For example if what to store the following : Jersey’s ( which i cut from a HTML page, html code is Jersey & # 146 ;s) it comes back as Jersey?s.
Just before I save the data to the database, I have the following:

About to store JerseyÆs
Data length:8
Hex 0: 4a 65 72 73 65 79 92 73

When I retrieve it from the database, I have the following given back:
Jersey?s
Data length:8
Hex 0: 4a 65 72 73 65 79 3f 73

I am using Mysql 3.23.51-max in a J2EE environment.
I have tried using both org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver and com.mysql.jdbc.driver drivers in mysql-connector-java-3.0.6-stable-bin.jar file.

My connection string is as follows:
jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/cms?characterEncoding=UTF8

Please help!!!
Thanks
Jag