On 8 Jul 2005 13:24:09 -0700, "Scott" wrote:

Thanks. That tells me a lot about what the problems are. I'm sure I
could cut it down and haul it off (carefully); I've worked along those
lines before, and I know how incredibly heavy those big branches can
be. It's more about whether the tree would survive that removal, and
it seems to me that there's a very good chance it wouldn't without some
professionally-guided countermeasures.

In any event, you remove dead trunks like that at the branch collar.
Do a search on branch collar and you will easily be able to determine
where to cut. I implore you to have an arborist take a look first.