Distribution lists disappear

I am running Mandriva 2009.1 with KDE 4.2.4, Kontact 1.4.4, kmail 1.11.4, and 
KAddressBook 4.1.

 When I create a distribution list in KAddressBook, it will disappear as soon 
as I close and reopen Kontact which closes both the mail client and the 
address book.  I tried fooling around to see if a least could be utilized in 
addressing a message in kmail, but in doing so I crashed the program.  

This problem was addressed on this list back in August of 2009.  Ingo Klocker 
raised essentially the same problem.  A certain "technique" for creating 
distribution lists was suggested.  Apparently it worked for him.  It doesn't 
work for me.

Does this problem exist for others, or is there a fault in my installation?

Richard Dawson