Honeymoon plans for William LaPolla and Ednarose Smith-LaPolla went awry when repeated efforts to secure William a passport ended in failure. The situation looked bad until, a friendly neighbor who happens to be a Congresswoman, Carolyn McCarthy, came to the rescue.

The problem was that William, a 45-year-resident of Mineola, is actually Guarino, at least he is on his birth certificate.

The New York Passport Agency refused to issue a passport for William. They would only issue one for "Guarino."

However, this was unacceptable to the senior gentleman who has answered to the name William since he began school. William is the name on his social security card and it is the name on his United States Marine Corps discharge papers.

"Everything in my whole life is William," he stated.

With an impending flight date of April 13, the couple was wrought with concern about how to remedy the situation.

Despite offering numerous documents including his Baptismal papers, which also refer to him as William, no passport was issued. Even efforts using an agency to speed up the process, for a $5 fee, had no results.

"The bureaucracy in it was really unbelievable," said Ednarose of the four and a half weeks put into the project.

The couple complained of unreturned phone calls and unreturned paper correspondences.

The exhausted and frustrated couple was at their wits end and with one last hope. Explained William, "She was my last choice because I didn't want to bother her, (she) being my neighbor."

His neighbor of 45 years is Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-4 CD). "I was a young girl when they moved into the neighborhood," recalled McCarthy.

Their families growing up side by side in Mineola, McCarthy has retained a friendly relationship with William consisting mostly of waves, neighborhood news and gardens.

When William finally approached McCarthy with his dilemma she replied, "You should have come to me sooner."

She put him in touch with her aide Erin Stevens who contacted the New York Passport Agency. The agency told Stevens that William needed an affidavit from an older sibling to vouch for the fact that he and Guarino were one and the same.

A few days later and all the proper documents having been delivered to the agency, the situation was rectified and a passport was issued to one William LaPolla.

According to Stevens most passport cases take about 25 days to complete, however it is not uncommon to run into some problems. Due to concerns about fraud, the Agency is very strict about accepting only birth certificates and drivers licenses as forms of identification in lieu of other documents.

This, along with backlogging of cases caused a delay in William's progress. However, said Stevens, "A call from Congress flags a case."

"I feel that if she didn't intercede, he wouldn't have gotten his passport," commented Ednarose.

"I am glad he came to me," said McCarthy. "That's what we do."

Now the couple plans to celebrate their six month marriage - they met at a senior dance about two years ago - with a honeymoon in Europe. At least that's the plan.

"I hope so. Now we have trouble with our airline tickets," Ednarose laughed. "Hopefully everything will work out."

At last word the couple were on their way to Europe, tickets as well as passports in hand.