The menacing storm cloud logo that Chaska School District residents selected for their second high school has evaporated.

The district initially planned to keep the logo for athletic teams at the new Chanhassen High, scheduled to open in 2009, even though it resembled a design previously used by a California minor league baseball team.

However, school officials decided this week to nix the logo and hire a professional design firm to create a new one after they learned that a northwest Minnesota high school uses a similar storm cloud logo.

"We didn't care about Lake Elsinore" -- the California minor league baseball team with a similar logo -- "but Stephen-Argyle [Central Junior High/High School], that's too close to home," Superintendent David Jennings said.

Chanhassen High's sports teams will be known as the Storm, based on a student vote this year, and the storm cloud logo was selected by a committee of district students and residents who chose it from several designs developed by class ring and yearbook company Jostens. Rich Stoebe, Jostens spokesperson, said the company typically directs its creative team to come up with several logo choices for schools, and, if necessary, helps the school make sure the design does not infringe on any trademarked logos.

School officials said the company didn't believe the logo violated any trademarks. But some residents felt it was not right to use a design one Chanhassen resident called the "cousin" of the California logo.

"It's unethical," said Randall Dahlk, of Chanhassen.

Dahlk, a graphic designer, said he was worried that the logo would reflect poorly on the community.

"Because I'm in the business, I know these things happen, but where do you draw the line?" Dahlk said.

Stephen-Argyle Junior High/High School Principal Mark Kroulik said that he hadn't heard about the Chaska logo debate, but that he would want to receive a courtesy phone call if the school used a similar logo.

"I'd have to see the comparison to know how similar they are," he said.

A few Minnesota school districts, including Chaska, have changed their sports logos to avoid legal battles. For instance, in 1998, the University of Iowa asked Chaska to stop using a design similar to the college's trademarked hawk logo for Chaska High teams. The district chose a replacement the following year.

This year, Breckenridge High School in western Minnesota stopped using a bucking horse-and-rider logo that resembled the state of Wyoming's registered trademark.

Jennifer Trammell, a representative for the Lake Elsinore Storm, said the team's merchandising office heard about Chanhassen's logo last week and hadn't determined whether it violates its trademark.

"We haven't given them permission," Trammell said. But the minor league baseball team and Stephen-Argyle shouldn't wait for a call from Chaska.

Jennings said the school district plans to reconvene the logo committee soon "start from scratch" with the help of a professional designer.

""We're building a new high school. We want a unique logo."

Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395