Need Help Populating A Variable (using .Net && C#)

I'm trying to populate the variable "STATUS" with the BEFORE value from TABLE1 to insert into TABLE2, but not sure how to do that. Attached is a stripped down code I'm working on. Sorry, I'm new at this...

// some variable stuff
      
protected ErrorText ErrorText1;
protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList DISP_CD;
public System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlInputText DISP_DOC;
protected System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlInputText DISP_DATE;
protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataList DataTagList;
protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button BtnUpd;

public string STATUS = string.Empty; <---- Help me.


// some update stuff

private void UpdateTable()
{
 using(DatabaseConnection conn = new DatabaseConnection())
 {    
  try
  {
   conn.OpenConnection(devSettings.junk);

   for (int i = 0; i < DataTagList.Items.Count; i++)
   {
    HtmlInputText textTag =
    (HtmlInputText)DataTagList.Items[i].FindControl("TagList");
    
     if (textTag.Value.Trim() != string.Empty)
     {
      GetOldStatus(conn, textTag.Value.Trim()); <---- Help me.
      UpdateTable1(conn, textTag.Value.Trim());
      UpdateTable2(conn, textTag.Value.Trim());
     }
    }

   }
   catch ( Exception ex )
   {
    conn.Rollback();
    throw ex;
   }
  }
}

// some sql table stuff


private string GetOldStatus(DatabaseConnection conn, string tag)

{
 StringBuilder sqlStr = new StringBuilder();
 sqlStr.Append("  SELECT  ");
 sqlStr.Append("  STATUS  AS STATUS"); <---- Help me.
 sqlStr.Append("  FROM  ");
 sqlStr.Append("  TABLE1  ");
 sqlStr.AppendFormat(" WHERE TAG in '{0}'", Functions.DBFormatUpper(tag));

 conn.Update(sqlStr.ToString());
 return sqlStr.ToString();
}


private string UpdateTable1(DatabaseConnection conn, string tag)

{
 StringBuilder sqlStr = new StringBuilder();
 sqlStr.Append(" UPDATE TABLE1 ");
 sqlStr.AppendFormat(" SET DISP_DOC = '{0}',",Functions.DBFormatUpper(this.DISP_DOC.Value));
 sqlStr.AppendFormat(" DISP_DATE = to_date('{0}', 'mm/dd/yyyy'),", DISP_DATE.Value);
 sqlStr.AppendFormat(" STATUS = '{0}',", Functions.DBFormatUpper(DISP_CD.SelectedValue));
 sqlStr.Append(" UPDT_DATE = sysdate ");
 sqlStr.AppendFormat(" WHERE TAG in '{0}'", Functions.DBFormatUpper(tag));
 sqlStr.Append(" AND STATUS in ('1','2','3')");

 conn.Update(sqlStr.ToString());
 return sqlStr.ToString();
}


private string UpdateTable2(DatabaseConnection conn, string tag)

{
 StringBuilder sqlStr = new StringBuilder();
 sqlStr.Append(" INSERT INTO TABLE2 (");
 sqlStr.Append("  TAG");
 sqlStr.Append(" ,DATE");
 sqlStr.Append(" ,FIELD1");
 sqlStr.Append(" ,FIELD2");
 sqlStr.Append(" ,BEFORE"); <---- Help me.
 sqlStr.Append(" ,AFTER");
 sqlStr.Append(" ,USER");
 sqlStr.Append("   )");
 sqlStr.Append(" VALUES (");
 sqlStr.AppendFormat("  '{0}'", Functions.DBFormatUpper(tag));
 sqlStr.Append(" ,sysdate ");
 sqlStr.Append(" ,'JUNK1'");
 sqlStr.Append(" ,'JUNK2' ");
 sqlStr.AppendFormat("  ,'{0}'", Functions.DBFormatUpper(this.STATUS)); <---- Help me.
 sqlStr.AppendFormat("  ,'{0}'", Functions.DBFormatUpper(DISP_CD.SelectedValue));
 sqlStr.AppendFormat("  ,'{0}'", Functions.DBFormatUpper(devState.UserId));
 sqlStr.Append("   )");

 conn.Update(sqlStr.ToString());
 return sqlStr.ToString();
}