UTF-8 problems using GEdit on 'menu.xml'

[Paul M. Bucalo]

I have been experiencing a strange problem that I can't resolve or find
answers to. When I edit 'menu.xml' with GEdit (FC1), initially the edits
I make will save and allow the right-click menu to show. For instance, I
did a simple copy & paste of one complete menu branch below another.
However, further work on the menu structure, copying and pasting
branches and overwriting tags contents to fit my needs, results in a
non-working menu. When I right-click, I get a tiny box that is barely
larger than the tip of my mouse cursor. Nothing else. 

I don't know if this this an important point or not, but when I first
open the file (like after using MenuMaker to generate it) and do a "Save
As", "UTF-8" is displayed as the coding. However, after making changes,
it now displays "Current Locale (UTF-8)". Is this my problem, or is
there some other issue I need to address?

Editing the menu file is simple enough, if not just some extra work.
MenuMaker just doesn't pick up all the apps that are on the system. It's
really hard luck for me not be able to add my own entries because I
can't save in proper UTF-8 format. Any ideas as to what I need to do to
make this work, or where I should go to make the needed changes? I've
done some research on this, but what I have done so far leads me to no
answers.

TIA,

Paul