Disease trees.

Can one of you please tell me what the heckin' heck this is?

A big halo of leaves on this tree have turned partially brown on the south side, and I have no idea why. It's a well-established tree of at least 17 years' standing. I've tried to get the answer from Google, but all I see is leaf scorch. Believe me, we have not have drought conditions. You could pick up the town and wring it, we've had so much rain. Maybe some kind of disease?

I don't know -- I don't even know what kind of tree it is. As longtime readers know, despite my Cub Scout experience in the urban elementary school I attended, I never learned real Scout stuff. Pinewood derby and macrame are what I remember, and I may be wrong about the macrame. I never earned the tree identification badge. Or would have if there were such a thing. And there's no tree surgery or naturopathy or tree disease treatment badge, either.

What bothers me is that the idiot next door cut off most of the limbs of one of his trees, leaving essentially a large stick in the ground. Did it have some kind of disease? I don't know; he's too stupid to tell me. The stick is sprouting leaves again, so it may turn back into a real tree in 30 or 40 years. I hope if it was a disease it's not anymore contagious than idiocy is.

I'm not stupid, just ignorant. So if you know anything about trees, please drop me a line in comments or write me at frederick_key at yahoo dot com. Help save my tree!