>ccmd = "update clmlog set descrip='" + thisform.edbDescrip.value +; "' where recno()=13"
....however, one or more carriage returns within the control gives me an odbc error "37000

Larry, I think that the problem is that a CR within the contents of the editbox can confuse the ODBC parser..

I'm curious, about one thing. After doing your update using a parameterized query (i.e., with the ?SomeMemlVar construct), are the carriage returns actually stored in the table that you update, or have they been replaced with some other character?