assigning result of SELECT in TRIGGER

Upon inserting a record into the confirm table I get this error in psql:

ERROR: parser: parse error at or near "SELECT"

What am I doing wrong. Is there a proper way to get a value from a related
table.

The function and trigger defs are:

CREATE FUNCTION chk_status () RETURNS OPAQUE AS '
DECLARE
status BOOLEAN;
BEGIN
status := SELECT status FROM log WHERE log.log_no = NEW.log_no;
IF NOT status THEN
RAISE EXCEPTION ''The log entry you are trying to confirm
was not successfully forwarded and does not need confirmation'';
END IF;
END;
' LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';

CREATE TRIGGER chk_status BEFORE INSERT ON confirm FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE
PROCEDURE chk_status();

--
Randy Perry
sysTame
Mac Consulting/Sales

phn 561.589.6449
mobile email help(at)systame(dot)com