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Retiree ambassador prefers hurricanes to blizzards: 'Minnesotan by birth, and a Mississippian by choice,' says Kenneth Cardinal.

Article Excerpt
Hurricane Katrina may have put a kink in programs to attract retirees to relocate to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. But one such retiree who relocated from Minnesota to Diamondhead in 2000 says he and his wife are staying--despite having received five-and-a-half feet of water in their home.

"I think for many of us, life just goes on," says Kenneth Cardinal, who along with his wife, Cheryl, decided on the Mississippi Gulf Coast as their retirement home. "So many of our families back home automatically thought we would be coming back the day after Katrina hit. They said, 'How can you possibly live down there with the threat of a hurricane coming?" I have a cartoon on my desk that shows a husband and wife trudging to a farmhouse in a blizzard. The man says to his wife: 'Repeat after me, At least we don't get hurricanes.' I don't think I care to trade a blizzard for a hurricane."

Cardinal said no matter where you live in the U.S., there are risks. The North has snow storms. Kansas has tornadoes. California and other states have earthquakes, mud slides and forest fires.

"No matter where you are, there...

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