LAFAYETTE ASSOCIATION
OF PROFESSIONAL LANDMEN
Appalachian Land Institute
https://www.landman.org/events/energy-institutes/appalachian-land-institute.html
AAPL has once again partnered with the Michael Late Benedum Chapter of AAPL to bring intriguing education and tailored networking to the exciting Pittsburgh area!
Registration includes industry experts covering hot topics to the Appalachia region, breakfasts & lunch and a fun networking reception with fellow regional landmen. It all goes down at the Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh/Southpointe in Canonsburg.
At least 10 AAPL CEUs will be available. CLEs from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio will also be available.
Mining and Land Resources Institute
Stateline, NV
Caesars Republic Lake Tahoe
Harrah's Lake Tahoe
https://www.landman.org/events/energy-institutes/mining-and-land-resources-institute.html
Join us in beautiful Lake Tahoe for the 2026 MALRI! Topics include:
Brian Capell
Orphan Well Program
and
Unleased Owner Reporting
https://www.liskow.com/
Brian Capell is a litigator. He has experience in trial and appellate proceedings throughout the state of Louisiana and in federal courts. Many of his clients are in the energy industry, but the array of topics he has litigated is broad. He defends companies in various industries against personal injury and environmental claims and represents companies in contractual disputes and property matters.
Much of Brian’s practice includes representing energy clients all types of matters. He handles JOA and other contractual disputes, oyster lease damage claims, orphan well matters, legacy and coastal zone litigation, royalty and mineral servitude issues, and claims arising under the Louisiana Oilfield Lien Act. He has successfully tried cases and represented clients in state and federal courts across Louisiana at both the trial level and on appeal. He also advises clients on regulatory issues and risk management strategies to help resolve disputes efficiently and, when possible, avoid litigation.
Michael R. Brassett, II
Bradley Murchison Kelly & Shea LLC
Amy Lee
Liskow & Lewis, APLC
Ryan Case/Stephen Reichel
DMR Technologies
https://bradleyfirm.com/
Michael Brassett currently serves as a managing member of the firm. Michael has a transactional oil and gas practice serving producers and others engaged in onshore and offshore operations throughout the state. In his practice, he represents multiple E&P companies in their acquisition, development, and divestment of assets. This includes title review including the drafting of drill site and division order title opinions, operating agreements, lease negotiations, and surface use and ROW Agreements, in addition to representation in regulatory proceedings with the Louisiana Office of Conservation. Michael represents service providers in the energy industry, assisting them in the drafting of various commercial agreements, and the drafting and negotiation of master service agreements. His understanding of the legal issues surrounding the energy industry allows for a nuanced, practical, and pragmatic approach to clients’ projects throughout all phases of the asset development. He also has extensive experience in the negotiating and drafting of commercial transactions, corporate formation, litigation, and environmental regulation and compliance.
Amy Allums Lee
Amy Lee is an experienced litigation and regulatory attorney who handles complex matters in the fields of energy and environmental law. She represents major oil companies in legacy lawsuits, contract and property disputes, and before regulatory agencies regarding site assessment and remediation, orphaned wells, and permitting.
She has successfully defended legacy claims involving soil, groundwater, and wetlands impacts throughout Louisiana. She regularly handles matters before the Louisiana Department of Conservation & Energy and works with landowners, regulators, landmen, and contractors on remediation and decommissioning matters. She is actively involved in the Louisiana State Law Institute, which makes recommendations to the legislature on developments in the law. Amy previously served as a law clerk to the Louisiana Supreme Court and as President of the American Inn of Court of Acadiana. She has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America as “Lawyer of the Year” in Environmental Litigation in 2020, 2022, and 2024.
https://dmrdrones.com/
OUR MISSION TAKES US TO THE HEART OF YOUR BUSINESS
The world is not waiting for extraordinary change. It’s already here. Global industry faces a new landscape, and not just from innovation but tighter competition, logistical challenges and economic pressure. This is why we’ve spent the last decade preparing. When challenges appear from every angle, the answer should rise to meet those challenges. From every angle.
This is our mission, and the power of drones to reach every precise need. Agriculture. Industrial Inspection. Security. Soft washing. We’re committed to being at the forefront of the technology our partners need, but also what they never expected. We meet uncertainty with solutions. Because we’ve put in the time to develop a fluid and research-driven process to offer the most advanced and successful industrial drones possible.
We’re a global company based in the heart of American mobility innovation, Louisiana. Like our drones, we can better serve the details by seeing the big picture. Whether that’s premium and resilient manufacturing, investment in cutting-edge technology, or the ability to provide custom solutions, DMR is already positioned exactly where you need us.
Premium Crawfish, Corn, and Potatoes
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: Acadian Village
Price: TBA
Drinks included
Oakbourne Country Club
Tuesday, May 5
Amazing Prizes & Giveaways!
Lunch Start | 11:15 AM
sponsored by
Bullen & Plauché
https://bullenplauche.com/
Memorial Day
HISTORY.com Editors
Published: October 27, 2009 Last Updated: May 28, 2025
Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2025 falls on Monday, May 26.
Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.
The Birthplace of Memorial Day and Early Observances
This holiday honors those who died while serving in the U.S. military.
The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.
By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.
It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. And some records show that one of the earliest Memorial Day commemorations was organized by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered in 1865. Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
Did you know?
Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time.
Decoration Day
On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Civil War soldiers buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor the dead on separate days until after World War I.
History of Memorial Day
Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars, including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date General Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
Memorial Day Traditions and Rituals
Cities and towns across the United States host Memorial Day parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and members of veterans’ organizations. Some of the largest parades take place in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.
Americans also observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries and memorials. Some people wear a red poppy in remembrance of those fallen in war—a tradition that began with a World War I poem. On a less somber note, many people take weekend trips or throw parties and barbecues on the holiday, perhaps because Memorial Day weekend—the long weekend comprising the Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day and Memorial Day itself—unofficially marks the beginning of summer.
Fourth of July – Independence Day
Published: December 16, 2009Last Updated: June 30, 2025
The Fourth of July—also known as Independence Day or July 4th—has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution. On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. From 1776 to the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues. The Fourth of July 2025 is on Friday, July 4.
History of Independence Day
When the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did were considered radical.
By the middle of the following year, however, many more colonists had come to favor independence, thanks to growing hostility against Britain and the spread of revolutionary sentiments such as those expressed in the bestselling pamphlet “Common Sense,” published by Thomas Paine in early 1776.
On June 7, when the Continental Congress met at the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, the Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a motion calling for the colonies’ independence.
Amid heated debate, Congress postponed the vote on Lee’s resolution, but appointed a five-man committee—including Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York—to draft a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain.
John Adams believed that July 2nd was the correct date on which to celebrate the birth of American independence, and would reportedly turn down invitations to appear at July 4th events in protest. Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826—the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. On July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Lee’s resolution for independence in a near-unanimous vote (the New York delegation abstained, but later voted affirmatively). On that day, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”
On July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Lee’s resolution for independence in a near-unanimous vote (the New York delegation abstained, but later voted affirmatively). On that day, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”
On July 4th, the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, which had been written largely by Jefferson. Though the vote for actual independence took place on July 2nd, from then on the 4th became the day that was celebrated as the birth of American independence.
Early Fourth of July Celebrations and Traditions
In the pre-Revolutionary years, colonists had held annual celebrations of the king’s birthday, which traditionally included the ringing of bells, bonfires, processions and speechmaking. By contrast, during the summer of 1776 some colonists celebrated the birth of independence by holding mock funerals for King George III as a way of symbolizing the end of the monarchy’s hold on America and the triumph of liberty.
Festivities including concerts, bonfires, parades and the firing of cannons and muskets, usually accompanied the first public readings of the Declaration of Independence, beginning immediately after its adoption. Philadelphia held the first annual commemoration of independence on July 4, 1777, while Congress was still occupied with the ongoing war.
George Washington issued double rations of rum to all his soldiers to mark the anniversary of independence in 1778, and in 1781, several months before the key American victory at the Battle of Yorktown, Massachusetts became the first state to make July 4th an official state holiday.
After the Revolutionary War, Americans continued to commemorate Independence Day every year, in celebrations that allowed the new nation’s emerging political leaders to address citizens and create a feeling of unity. By the last decade of the 18th century, the two major political parties—the Federalist Party and Democratic-Republicans—that had arisen began holding separate Fourth of July celebrations in many large cities.
Fourth of July Fireworks
The first fireworks were used as early as 200 BC. The tradition of setting off fireworks on the 4 of July began in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777, during the first organized celebration of Independence Day. Ship’s cannon fired a 13-gun salute in honor of the 13 colonies. The Pennsylvania Evening Post reported: “at night there was a grand exhibition of fireworks (which began and concluded with thirteen rockets) on the Commons, and the city was beautifully illuminated.” That same night, the Sons of Liberty set off fireworks over Boston Common.
Fourth of July Becomes a Federal Holiday
The tradition of patriotic celebration became even more widespread after the War of 1812, in which the United States again faced Great Britain. In 1870, the U.S. Congress made July 4th a federal holiday; in 1941, the provision was expanded to grant a paid holiday to all federal employees.
Over the years, the political importance of the holiday would decline, but Independence Day remained an important national holiday and a symbol of patriotism.
Falling in mid-summer, the Fourth of July has since the late 19th century become a major focus of leisure activities and a common occasion for family get-togethers, often involving fireworks and outdoor barbecues. The most common symbol of the holiday is the American flag, and a common musical accompaniment is “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States.
Speaker (TBA)
Lafayette Association of Professional Landmen, Inc.
P.O. Box 53491, Lafayette, LA 70505
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