Just over a year ago, rumors of local restaurateur Jean-Claude Petit’s demise swept through the community like wildfire, a rumor that proved quite untrue.“I’m still here,” Petit said Thursday as he stood stationed over his grill at J’s Restaurant just as he has for three decades. Petit has been battling cancer for a year and a half, undergoing numerous chemotherapy treatments in hopes of beating the dreaded disease. He had just been diagnosed when the vicious rumors of his death circulated last year, prompting a front-page story in the Southern Standard to dispel the rumors.Despite the numerous rounds of chemotherapy, Petit remained at work at his restaurant.